Research

Researchers in the United States have repurposed a commonplace chemical used in water treatment facilities to develop an all-liquid, iron-based redox flow battery for large-scale energy storage. Their lab-scale battery exhibited strong cycling stability over 1,000 consecutive charging cycles, while maintaining 98.7% of its original capacity.

Energy storage specialist Lochard Energy has secured a $2 million grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency that will underpin a feasibility study into large-scale underground storage of green hydrogen in southwest Victoria.

Western Australian regional energy provider Horizon Power will trial two novel long-duration energy storage technologies – including a zinc-bromine flow battery provided by Queensland manufacturer Redflow – as it seeks to identify new energy storage solutions for off-grid communities dealing with high levels of solar and extreme weather.

Mining and energy major Fortescue says the performance of an electric excavator operating at its Cloudbreak mine site in Western Australia’s is continuing to improve but is at times already performing better than its diesel equivalent.

A team of Australian researchers has designed a new catalyst that has the potential to deliver a new generation of lithium-sulfur batteries that are capable of being charged in less than five minutes, instead of several hours as is currently the case.

Researchers in Italy have estimated the profitability of future vanadium redox flow batteries based on real device and market parameters and found that market evolutions are heading to much more competitive systems, with capital costs down to $430/kWh at a storage duration of 10 hours.

The new efficiency record for fully roll-to-roll printed perovskite solar cells set by an international team of scientists from Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO unlocks new manufacturing potential. These lightweight and flexible solar cells manufactured on very long, continuous rolls of plastic can dramatically increase the rate of production and scope for deployment.

Printed flexible solar cell technology developed by Australia’s national science agency has been successfully launched into space as part of billionaire Elon Musk’s Space X’s Transporter-10 mission.

Researchers from the University of New South Wales have rejected suggestions that end-of-life solar panels will create a “waste mountain” in Australia, saying instead that they could serve as valuable material reservoirs for future production.

Australia’s energy transition risks falling behind with a new report showing that the time required to plan, build and commission a large-scale solar farm is almost four years with the final stage of the process having blown out to six months or more.