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With its promise of cheap, easy ‘god molecules’ flowing inexhaustibly from the ground, it’s no wonder natural hydrogen is piquing interest. Sometimes referred to as ‘gold’ or ‘white’ hydrogen, Avon McIntyre, executive director of HyTerra, an Australian company in the space, told pv magazine Australia natural hydrogen projects should have smaller carbon footprints than sprawling green hydrogen plays and, moreover, would be ready quicker. Enticing as it sounds, unknowns remain.

A partnership between Quantum Power Asia and Berlin-based ib vogt is proposing a 3.5 GW solar and storage facility in Riau, Indonesia, an archipelago of islands south of Singapore. The AUD$6.7 billion potential project aims to export the generated solar to the Singaporean city-state by 2032, meeting 8% of its electricity needs.

The US National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL) final report on the future of storage presents “key learnings” from a series of six in-depth studies.

Developed by a Chinese-Swedish research group, the device is an ultra-thin chip that could be integrated into electronics such as headphones, smartwatches and telephones. It combines a Molecular Solar Thermal Energy Storage System (MOST) with a micro-fabricated system that includes a thermoelectric generator (TEG) with a low-dimensional material-based microelectromechanical system (MEMS).

Australia’s inventories of critical materials for batteries have seen major increases recently, with vanadium up 23%, lithium up 8%, rare earths up 4% and platinum group elements up 185% in the year to December 2020.

West Australian company Vulcan Energy Resources, backed by mining magnate Gina Rinehart, has signed a geothermal heat energy offtake agreement with a major German energy supplier, MVV Energie. Vulcan is planning to eventually secure a lithium supply from the same deep brine source in the Upper Rhine Valley, Germany.

The device is based on a standard, two-electrode electrochemical cell containing conductive polymers, a carbon-graphene hybrid, and a non-flammable liquid electrolyte. The battery cells were tested to perform for 12,000 cycles at 100% depth of discharge.

Academics from MIT and Stanford who have posited a new production method for perovskite solar cells have also developed a machine learning system which benefits from the experience of seasoned workers – and they’ve posted it online for anyone to use.

Energy Dome’s emission-free energy storage method uses carbon dioxide in a closed loop charge/discharge cycle that can store and dispatch renewable energy onto the grid over periods from four to 24 hours.

Australia’s most powerful energy industry participants have actively resisted the move to a low-carbon economy. Now, the country known as a sandbox for technology has become a sandbox for a new model for decarbonisation – one which has seen billionaires and giant fund managers sidestep politics to use the free market in strategic and potentially disruptive ways. pv magazine Australia’s Bella Peacock reports.