United States

Salgenx has developed a way to produce graphene on demand from its saltwater flow battery. The tech exploits the electrochemical properties of the battery’s cathode to exfoliate graphite into individual layers of graphene. The company says it can produce graphene for less than USD 1.25 ($1.85) per gram, providing storage businesses with an additional revenue stream.

Cannabis prohibition drove a culture of clandestine production in the past and solar helped growers to cultivate it at remote, off-grid sites. Now, as a global commercial cannabis market emerges, solar has an even bigger role to play, reports Blake Matich.

Green energy investment manager Quinbrook Infrastructure is spreading its reach into the “exploding” renewable fuels and biogas sectors with the acquisition of United States-headquartered developer PurposeEnergy which specialises in converting food and beverage residuals and wastewater into renewable energy.

Tesla has revealed plans to build a new Megapack battery factory in Shanghai, according to the Xinhua news agency.

Sarcos has designed a robotic PV construction solution that delivers, detects, lifts, and places PV modules in large-scale solar plants. It has recently field tested and validated the prototype solution in a pilot project funded by the US Department of Energy.

Stanford University researchers have created a model to assess how much compressed air storage capacity might be needed for the deep decarbonisation of power systems, while compensating for the variability of wind and solar-based power systems. They applied the model to California’s energy system and found that compressed air could be very competitive on a dollars-per-kilowatt-hour basis.

Before beginning BESS design, it’s important to understand auxiliary power design, site layout, cable sizing, grounding system and site communications design.

Storage specialist Fluence has launched Ultrastack, a battery energy storage system (BESS) for storage-as-transmission assets. It is designed to help network owners and operators to manage renewables curtailment, increase the use of power lines, and limit congestion.

Sandbox Solar, a solar developer and US federal grant recipient, has released a beta version of its software modelling tool for agrivoltaic power plants. It supports the design and optimisation of solar panels, as well as the crops underneath.

US solar was disrupted in 2022, with module seizures delaying projects due to strict laws designed to stamp out alleged forced labor practices in sections of the Chinese PV industry. However, it remains to be seen whether seizures affected such alleged practices.