Technology and R&D

Perth-headquartered Australian Vanadium LImited’s subsidiary VSUN Energy has moved a vanadium flow battery project to a design phase with the aim to develop a home-grown modular, scalable, turnkey, utility-scale battery energy storage system.

Researchers at the Australian National University are part of the international team that has built an all-perovskite tandem solar cell based on a wide-bandgap top perovskite cell with a 20.5% efficiency. The 1 cm2 scale tandem device achieved the highest efficiency yet reported for all-perovskite solar cells of this size.

Researchers have analysed how wind speed and direction affect the cooling of a rooftop PV plant with 10,806 panels. They said that winds from behind were less effective due to the roof slope and the minimal gap between the panels and the roof, but wind from other directions could contribute to a cooling effect of up to 7 C.

Chinese solar cell and module maker Aiko Solar has partnered with the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics on a $6 million initiative aiming to achieve 30% efficiency with interdigitated back contact silicon solar cells.

Each expansion unit adds another 13.5 kWh of storage capacity to the original installation with a maximum of three such units connected to a single Powerwall. Now available in the United States, the new product comes at a lower cost and slashes installation time by roughly half to 22 minutes.

With electric vehicle demand continuing to grow in Australia, Japanese auto manufacturer Toyota has revealed it will team with mining giant BHP to trial the “first ever” battery-powered HiLux dual-cab ute.

The results of this year’s Kiwa PVEL scorecard have shown that TOPCon technology is more vulnerable than PERC, and the failure rate at bill of materials has increased to 41%, the highest in history, according to the testing lab.

Australian concentrated solar company Vast Renewables has signed a development services agreement with Singapore-headquartered energy company GGS Energy to bring concentrated solar powered green methanol and sustainable aviation fuel to the USA.

New South Wales-based gravitational energy storage technology company Green Gravity will repurpose shafts in two Queensland copper mines scheduled to close in 2025, to store renewable energy.

Researchers at the CSIRO have taken their pilot-scale prodcution of flexible printed solar film to a new level, following the official launch of its Printed Photovoltaic Facility in southwest Melbourne, Victoria.