Hydrogen to be produced from seawater in Spanish solar-plus-storage plant
Spanish PV project developer Gransolar is planning to build a large-scale green hydrogen production plant in the Port of Almería, in southern Spain.
Novel approach to turn coal plants into energy storage stations goes into testing
Funded by a United States’ Department of Energy grant, the project will evaluate Malta Inc.’s thermal energy storage system as a viable, scalable solution.
Concrete battery for applications in buildings, rooftop PV
A prototype of a cement-based battery has been developed in Sweden for potential applications in buildings. Its creators claim it could become a solution to store electricity from rooftop PV and they do not exclude that it could also be used for the storage of large-scale renewables.
Q Cells announces n-type module with passivating contacts
Production on the new module, called Q.Tron, is expected to begin this year. The product is described as an evolution of the company’s Q.antum cell technology.
Harvard scientists unveil solid-state lithium battery that can be charged and discharged at least 10,000 times
US scientists have created a new design for lithium-metal, solid-state batteries that should avoid the formation of dendrites that grow into the electrolyte. Their multilayered battery could potentially recharge electric vehicles within 10 to 20 minutes.
‘Hydrogen as a universal climate solution might be a bit of false promise’
Hydrogen and hydrogen-based fuels will not be able to move forward fast enough to replace fossil fuels and tackle climate change, according to a German-Swiss research team that claims direct electrification alternatives are cheaper and easier to implement. The scientists cite too-high prices, short-term scarcity and long-term uncertainty, as the main reasons for their skepticism, which has caused a stir in academic circles.
Tesla shifts battery chemistry for utility-scale Megapack energy storage system
The famous electric car manufacturer is reportedly shifting to cobalt-free lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries for its utility-scale battery.
Organic solar for high-speed data detection and indoor light harvesting
Researchers in the United Kingdom have built a 14%-efficient organic PV device that can be used in high-speed optical wireless communication systems. The cell consists of a 4×2.5mm photoactive layer fabricated with a bulk heterojunction of a polymer donor and fullerene and non-fullerene acceptors.
The best radiative cooling tech for PV arrays
Scientists in China have analysed the radiative cooling techniques used in combination with solar energy systems such as PV arrays, solar thermal collectors, and concentrated PV installations. They identified five major system typologies based on functionality and working time.
A different angle on perovskite defects
Scientists in China took a closer look at the role of defects in limiting the performance of perovskite solar cells, demonstrating a screening effect that could be tuned to make material defects “invisible” to charge carriers, greatly improving cell performance. Using this approach they demonstrate a 22% efficient inverted perovskite solar cell, and theorise several new pathways to even higher performance.
