A prototype of a cement-based battery has been developed in Sweden for potential applications in buildings. Its creators claim it could become a solution to store electricity from rooftop PV and they do not exclude that it could also be used for the storage of large-scale renewables.

The deflagration-prevention system combines automatically controlled door locks with a smart controller which manages signals from fire safety inputs such as smoke, heat, or gas detectors. It is applicable from 50 kW to multi-megawatt cabinets.

In an interview with pv magazine, Indra Overland, the head of the Centre for Energy Research at the Norwegian Institute for International Affairs, explains how long-distance electricity and hydrogen transport differs from that of fossil fuels. He says strong Europe-North Africa connections could prove the viability of cables to connect continents, and notes that integration between countries and regions will increase.

Production on the new module, called Q.Tron, is expected to begin this year. The product is described as an evolution of the company’s Q.antum cell technology.

The most powerful of the two products has a power output of up to 380 W and an efficiency of 20.4%. For both panels, the temperature coefficient is -0.37%. The German manufacturer said the modules are produced at its manufacturing facility in Dresden.

US scientists have created a new design for lithium-metal, solid-state batteries that should avoid the formation of dendrites that grow into the electrolyte. Their multilayered battery could potentially recharge electric vehicles within 10 to 20 minutes.

Hydrogen and hydrogen-based fuels will not be able to move forward fast enough to replace fossil fuels and tackle climate change, according to a German-Swiss research team that claims direct electrification alternatives are cheaper and easier to implement. The scientists cite too-high prices, short-term scarcity and long-term uncertainty, as the main reasons for their skepticism, which has caused a stir in academic circles.

It’s claimed the decentralised desalination system can deliver a levelised cost for desalinated water of US$0.7-4.3/m3, depending on PV costs and electricity prices. It was built with several concentrated photovoltaic/thermal (CPV-T) collectors, a hot water tank, a V-MEMD module, a seawater feed tank, and a distillate tank.

Researchers in the United Kingdom have built a 14%-efficient organic PV device that can be used in high-speed optical wireless communication systems. The cell consists of a 4×2.5mm photoactive layer fabricated with a bulk heterojunction of a polymer donor and fullerene and non-fullerene acceptors.

German scientists have proposed a new design for stacks used in redox flow batteries. Through a powder-to-roll process, a device that weighs 80% less than a conventional stack was fabricated.