Technology

Nitricity has developed an experimental plasma reactor that uses PV electricity to produce competitively priced, environmentally clean, nitrogen fertiliser. Its onsite fertiliser production eliminates emissions from transport, and provides a viable alternative to fossil-based nitrogen fixation methods like the Haber-Bosch process.

Compiled by an international research group, the best practices were collected from all available guidelines published by national agencies, regulatory bodies, and trade associations.

In the past fortnight, Rio Tinto, Fortescue Metals, and now BHP Group have all announced they will buy electric trains to haul iron ore across Western Australia. All three companies will purchase their electric locomotives either from Progress Rail or Wabtec, both U.S based.

Transport accounts for approximately 20% of the Victoria’s emissions while also being one of the more hard to decarbonise sectors. Due to its commitment to halve its emissions by 2030, the Victorian government has announced over $7 million in grands for a number of projects seeking to commercialise real world applications in the transport sector powered by renewable hydrogen.

A Japanese group has developed a storage system with potential applications in residential storage, electric vehicles, drones and Internet-of-Things devices.

The device has a 4-in-1 design, which means it can be connected with four solar panels with a power output of up to 625 W each, through four independent connections. The output of each panel is tracked and converted individually. According to the Chinese manufacturer, the micro-inverter can ensure savings of up to 50% due to the lower number of devices and cables needed.

The new heterojunction module series is compatible with Panasonic’s Evervolt battery and has a power output ranging from 400 to 410 W. It also features a temperature coefficient of -0.26% per degree Celsius.

Construction of a new $2.3 billion electricity interconnector that will link the South Australian and New South Wales energy networks is expected to commence early this year following the South Australian Government’s approval of the project’s Environmental Impact Statement.

Western Australian solar window company ClearVue says it has proven its products can reduce buildings’ carbon emissions by as much as 90%, qualifying the technology for the world’s most comprehensive future building standards for energy performance.

Scientists in the United States have proposed to use a thermochemical energy storage (TCES) technique that stores energy in chemical bonds to recover the heat produced during air compression operations. According to them, this innovation may increase the round-trip efficiency of compressed air energy storage to 60%.