Technology and R&D

Japanese energy company Sinanen offers a scalable solar carport that can host a minimum of four vehicles and can be deployed in the parking areas of factories and commercial buildings. The basic system is offered with a minimum capacity of 10.80 kW.

Airports are increasingly turning to solar to decarbonise, with ideations ranging all the way from gimmicky solar runways and “dead zone” solar pathways to very real rooftop arrays. Whatever happens, solar certainly has a place at airports with Brisbane airport saving itself somewhere between $20 million to $50 million thanks to the solar system it installed in 2019.

The battery was fabricated by Chinese scientists with a low-cost electrolyte made of a derivative of TEMPO, which is a well-known electroactive aminoxyl radical used with several applications in chemistry and biochemistry. According to the researchers, the battery shows high redox potential and is crossover-free.

The Queensland government has published its draft plan to unlock 3,300 MW, or 3.3 GW, of new renewable generation as part of the first stage of developing state’s three Renewable Energy Zones (REZs).

In a new report, experts from the International Energy Agency Photovoltaic Power System Programme (IEA-PVPS) have assessed the economical and environmental benefits of repairing and reusing or replacing solar modules that are not complying with a 30-year expected lifetime. They found that reusing offers the best environmental impact in all cases, while the profitability of this option is currently guaranteed only by rooftop PV under certain conditions. As for large-scale solar, module replacement remains the most competitive option.

Western Australia leads the world in successfully implementing renewables-based energy generation for far-flung customers. Unique joint venture and pioneer in the field, Boundary Power, has been widely recognised for its innovations and is ready to repeat its SAPS successes across Australia and the Asia-Pacific.

In a financial world of stocks, bonds, foreign exchange, and credit cards, trillions of dollars are traded daily, with money flows handled by a bevy of databanks. In the world of cryptocurrency, billions of dollars worth of Bitcoin are traded through as many as 400,000 transactions per day, consuming the energy supply of a modernised country. The quirk is a “proof of work” feature that provides decentralised security. Is Bitcoin’s energy usage all for nothing, or is it a game-changer for renewable assets and generators? Tristan Rayner explores.

Should heterojunction solar technologies be temporarily shelved? Could copper plating replace screen-printed silver conductive surfaces in cells? Why are tandem cells a likely successor to PERC? Brett Hallam recently sat down with Natalie Filatoff in Sydney to explain the findings of a new study by the University of New South Wales (UNSW) that sought to answer these controversial questions.

Scientists in Brazil have found that photovoltaic modules may be a repository of specialised microbes in tropical regions. According to them, these micro-organisms may be used in sunscreens, pigments for processed foods, chemicals, textiles, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics.

Norwegian scientists have developed a gallium arsenide (GaAs) nanowire solar cell that can be used as a top cell in a dual tandem cell with a bottom silicon cell. The device is claimed to be the most efficient single-junction GaAs nanowire solar cell grown on a silicon substrate so far.