Research

New modelling has found Australia will require about 40 times the total generation capacity of today’s national electricity market, including an estimated 1,900 GW of solar PV, to deliver on its net-zero ambitions by 2050.

The two will study the scaling and integration of fuel cell systems for stationary power generation.

Modelling 5 to 10 GWh electrified containerships, researchers find that 40% of routes today could be electrified in an economically viable manner, before considering environmental costs.

New Zealand and Germany have partnered up to provide NZ$2 million (AU$1.8m) each to three green hydrogen research projects, including one to develop more efficient anion exchange membrane electrolysers which promise to be cheaper and more sustainable to manufacture.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge have examined one of the fastest-charging anode materials by using a low-cost, lab-based optical microscopy technique. Their findings showed that particle fracture, which can reduce the storage capacity of a battery, is more common with higher rates of delithiation and in longer particles.

Researchers in China have reported a colourisation strategy for solar based on photonic glass. They created solar panels that took on blue, green, and purple hues, while only dropping the efficiency of power generation from 22.6% to 21.5%.

As community opposition to overhead transmission line grows, the Victoria-based Energy Grid Alliance has released a report imploring the energy industry to better understand why the phenomenon is gaining momentum – positing the ‘talk to them early and pay them more’ approach will only further decay the situation. Instead, the group says real attention needs to be paid to social license and ensuring environmental and socioeconomic impacts of chosen transmission corridors are considered from the get-go.

Researchers at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) have developed a broadly applicable and versatile post-electrode-engineering process. It can be applied to a range of conventional anodes to improve their stability.

A study into exporting green hydrogen from the 8 GW HyEnergy hydrogen Project in Western Australia’s Gascoyne region without an onshore port has found it to be both commercially and technically feasible.

In a bit more bad news for everyone already struggling with the current energy crisis, modelling from Cornwall Insight Australia forecasts that prices will remain at increasingly high levels for the next three years, after which they will flatten but are not likely to lose their volatility in the longer term.