Asia

Perth-headquartered resources and technology company Australian Vanadium Limited’s subsidiary VSUN Energy will partner with Japanese manufacturer Sumitomo Electric Industries in its bid to develop Western Australia’s planned 500 MWh Kalgoorlie vanadium battery project.

New research shows how agrivoltaic systems can reshape soil by altering moisture, temperature, and microbial activity, creating heterogeneous zones under and between panels. Proper design and management can boost soil health and crop resilience, especially in degraded or arid regions, though long-term effects remain uncertain.

The Chinese manufacturer said its 15 kW three-phase low-voltage hybrid inverter is paired with the stackable BP5000 5 kWh battery supporting up to 120 kWh. It features three MPPTs, 150% oversized PV input, and smart load management for optimised self-consumption.

High-resistivity silicon wafers offer superior efficiency potential but are highly sensitive to edge recombination and mechanical damage, limiting their commercial use compared to more robust standard wafers. Researchers from Longi and Sun Yat-sen University demonstrated that integrating in-situ edge passivation unlocks this potential, significantly boosting back-contact solar cell fill factor and efficiency.

Queensland based critical minerals company Graphinex is collaborating with Japanese entities to deliver graphite from its proposed $1.3 billion Esmeralda mine project to Japan, and create a fully integrated graphite-to-anode supply chain.

China’s PV industry expects 238 GW to 287 GW of domestic capacity additions in 2026 as it pivots away from volume-led growth after a loss-making year driven by overcapacity and sharp price declines. The shift follows rapid expansion in 2021-25 that lifted cumulative capacity above 1.2 TW, annual additions beyond 300 GW and exports over $180 billion.

South Korean researchers have developed a guided-learning framework that accurately predicts PV power without requiring irradiance sensors during operation, using routine meteorological data instead. The model reportedly showed strong out-of-sample performance while outperforming conventional irradiance-based approaches, particularly under noisy or inconsistent data conditions.

The IP66-rated Aura 5000 energy storage system features bidirectional inverter functionality and an AC output of up to 2.5 kW.

Cubenergy has launched FlexCombo 2.0, a scalable battery energy storage system for utility, commercial, and industrial applications, offering up to 16 MWh capacity with LFP batteries. Its modular design, advanced BMS, and cloud-based operations enable easy installation, seamless expansion, and efficient grid integration, according to the manufacturer.

South Korean researchers from Chungnam National University have developed a one-step, photoresist-free graphene patterning technique that results in very low electrical resistance and avoids damage, showing scalability in the fabrication of transparent, flexible electronics like solar cells.