Technology and R&D

Melbourne solar Thermal Hydro tech company RayGen has announced a strategic partnership with global developer Photon Energy. The boost comes only weeks after added ARENA funding and signals a major push toward a solution to the problem of solar intermittency.

An Italian consortium has developed a panel recycling process it claims can recover up to 99% of raw materials. The developers claim their technique takes only 40 seconds to fully recycle a standard panel, depending on size and recycling site conditions.

Western Australian peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading pioneer Power Ledger has revealed the world’s biggest ‘choose your own energy source’ project in France.

France’s Sunbooster has developed a technology to cool down solar modules when their ambient temperature exceeds 25 C. The solution features a set of pipes that spread a thin film of water onto the glass surface of the panels in rooftop PV systems and ground-mounted plants. The cooling systems collect the water from rainwater tanks and then recycle, filter and store it again. The company claims the technology can facilitate an annual increase in power generation of between 8% and 12%.

Researchers in Brazil have suggested using solar radiation databases and simulator software to scale PV-diesel mini-grid generators. The profiles of PV generation and mini-grid load demand are critical to finding the right balance, according to the academics.

Monash University-led researchers have made a discovery that will dramatically reduce lithium-from-brine extraction times and accelerate our energy future. The breakthrough, innovative and ingenious, is as simple and as complex as a sieve.

The British university will use Redflow zinc-bromine flow batteries at its Active Building demonstrator – an award-winning classroom that generates, stores and releases solar energy at the point of use.

The ‘best conversion performance in the world in a dark room’ is how the developers of a new organic PV device have described it. Such cells could be used as a wireless source of energy for internet of things applications or in gadgets such as temperature-humidity and motion sensors.

With ARENA’s funding set to dry up in mid-2020, many around Australia are concerned the Government is preparing to toss the golden goose. Clean Energy Council head Kane Thornton is here to make sure that doesn’t happen.

The CSIRO recently told its Energy Business Unit that shortfalls would see approximately 20% of jobs cut despite the Government’s much-awaited Carbon Reduction Roadmap pinning our hopes on technological innovation.