North America

Scientists in the United States pieced together data from hundreds of different sources, looking to establish the key factors that have led to consistently falling prices for lithium-ion technology since their commercialisation thirty years ago. They find that public-funded research, primarily in chemistry and materials science, has made the largest contribution to cost reduction. And they offer suggestions on policy and investment to ensure that the research can continue to make these important contributions to reduction in battery costs.

NREL scientists have unveiled a storage system based on a phase-change material that can store both thermal energy and electricity in a single device. According to the researchers, the new technology may be used to store excess electricity produced by on-site solar or wind operations in large scale buildings.

At the risk of stating the obvious, PV performance will always be inextricably linked to the weather. Cloud cover significantly influences power output and severe weather events – including high winds, heavy snowfall, fire, and hail – can lead to module or structural damage. And with climate change making extreme weather events more common, the value of forecasting and understanding the worst Mother Nature can throw at a solar array is increasing.

A new Ernst & Young power and utilities overview report shows that utilities and other deep-pocketed investors are putting financial support behind their environmental, social and governance initiatives.

Hydrostor’s plant would be able to deliver 400 MW of electricity for 8 hours, and would be comparable in size to some of California’s largest fossil fuel power plants.

Developed by a U.S.-based start-up, the new manufacturing process is claimed to reduce silver consumption and improve solar module performance by up to 3 watts. It consists of connecting sub-cells in series within a single cell in order to increase the device voltage and without requiring cells to be physically broken and rewired.

The US battery manufacturer entered the stationary storage business with a new product for residential customers. The lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery is compatible with new or existing PV systems.

Aviation H2 today it announced it has appointed a team of engineers to fast-track its ambitions of building Australia’s first hydrogen-fuelled aeroplane. The company is, however, rather enigmatic, without a website and wholly owned by Liberty Energy Capital, which itself falls into rabbit hole of ownerships. The plan comes on the same day one of Australia’s biggest renewable hydrogen players, Fortescue Future Industries, announced it’s joined forced with Los Angeles-based Universal Hydrogen to enter the aviation space.

A U.S. research team has sought to improve the way aluminium hydride is used for hydrogen storage. The material was nanoconfined in a framework that is claimed to be able to overcome the challenge represented by the thermodynamic limitation of hydrides in storing the clean fuel.

Reports calculated that the single order would be enough to support production of 800,000 vehicles.