Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

Over 90% of Australia’s fuel is imported – something recent geopolitical events have illustrated is a serious vulnerability. This issue was the focus of an emergency fuel security summit held yesterday in Sydney. The event was attended by a number of industry leaders and independent members and candidates who put forward solutions to tackle the devolving situation.

Nitin Gupta, chief executive officer and co-founder, Attero Recycling, speaks to pv magazine about the supply chain concerns for lithium battery storage manufacturing in India, current battery recycling scenario and Attero’s capacity.

The results from solar glass company ClearVue’s greenhouse trials at Murdoch University have found the company’s product performed better than predicted overall, demonstrating both strong power generation and thermal value.

TBEA-owned Xinte Energy says it cannot produce polysilicon quickly enough to meet demand and wants shareholders to back its bid to quadruple its manufacturing capacity by mid 2024.

Australia’s inventories of critical materials for batteries have seen major increases recently, with vanadium up 23%, lithium up 8%, rare earths up 4% and platinum group elements up 185% in the year to December 2020.

Academics from MIT and Stanford who have posited a new production method for perovskite solar cells have also developed a machine learning system which benefits from the experience of seasoned workers – and they’ve posted it online for anyone to use.

A major Western Australian mine targeting the global vanadium battery market was this week found to be bankable, with feasibility studies confirming the project’s “strong commercial case for development,” its owner Australian Vanadium Limited said.

Indian renewable energy developer Greenko Group has partnered with Belgium’s John Cockerill to develop a green hydrogen electrolyser factory with a capacity of 2GW per annum. The partnership will also see the two companies jointly develop large-scale green hydrogen projects in India.

Western Australia’s Pinjarra alumina refinery, run by US giant Alcoa and Alumina Ltd, has been granted $8.6 million to test electric calcination, a process which could significantly reduce refineries’ footprints. The grants awarded add up to almost half of the pilot’s costs.

Sydney company CST Composites is seeking to establish Australia’s first hydrogen vessel manufacturing facility, looking to secure its position in the rapidly growing industry through a joint venture with a US-based hydrogen storage tank manufacturer.