Europe

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles has unveiled the e-Bulli, a concept blend of the classic 1966 Bulli Kombi with 2020 electric vehicle driving.

The ‘best conversion performance in the world in a dark room’ is how the developers of a new organic PV device have described it. Such cells could be used as a wireless source of energy for internet of things applications or in gadgets such as temperature-humidity and motion sensors.

U.S.-owned analyst Wood Mackenzie expects solar demand to decline but predicts the market will recover, with the prospects for the energy transition remaining intact.

A report by Norwegian energy consultant DNV GL has considered the opportunity for long-term energy storage to play a role in balancing annual supply and demand fluctuations in a renewables-led grid. Using 58 years of Dutch weather and energy consumption data, the study found long-term solutions such as green hydrogen could make a valuable contribution – but perhaps not as much as some analysts believe.

UK-based infrastructure investor John Laing will make no further investments in standalone solar and wind, following the write-downs taken on its European and Australian projects.

Researchers led by Belgian institute imec claim to have achieved the result with a 1cm² flexible thin-film cell intended for building-integrated PV application. The result tops the 24.6% efficiency the consortium announced in September 2018. The cell’s developers are now aiming for 30%.

Norwegian giant Equinor is the latest oil and gas company to abandon controversial plans to drill in the Great Australian Bight, following in the backtracks of BP, Chevron and Karoon Energy.

An international group of scientists has developed a comprehensive method to track the microscopic processes at work in lithium batteries. Employing a ‘virtual unrolling’ model developed for ancient manuscripts too sensitive to be opened, the group peeked inside the layers of a commercial battery to gain a better understanding of the processes at work and the degradation mechanisms affecting them. Their findings, the group says, could provide a benchmark for battery characterization.

WoodMac analysts say the amount of new battery manufacturing capacity added in the nation this year could fall by as much as 10% because of the outbreak. With Tesla’s Shanghai gigafactory affected by the extended new-year-holiday shutdown, the analyst warned of potential supply shortages for Australia and the U.S. and U.K.

West Australian peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading pioneer Power Ledger has won a lucrative contract with Alperia SpA, one of Italy’s largest renewable electricity utilities.