United States

BMW Group said it is targeting the premium segment with its iX5 Hydrogen car, Topsoe revealed that it will invest US$267 million (AU$392m) to build the world’s largest SOEC electrolyzer plant in Denmark, and Bosch announced plans to invest US$200 million (AU$292m) in US fuel cell production.

Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has commissioned a first-of-its-kind pilot plant pumped heat energy storage demonstration facility with tech from US startup Malta. Its 10-150+ hour energy storage technology is said to be applicable in a range of grid-scale applications.

Integrated clean home energy and smart appliances platform lets users run appliances on battery-stored solar energy in pre-determined time frames.

The US International Trade Commission has launched a new investigation into SolarEdge, following a lawsuit from power electronics specialist Ampt.

US battery company Powin has agreed to deploy 1.7 GWh of energy storage systems in Australia over the next two years after entering a partnership with Victorian developer Akaysha Energy. The news tops a big month for Akaysha which was acquired by US giant BlackRock two weeks ago.

Hydrostor has selected an engineering company to provide front-end studies for a 500 MW compressed air energy storage project in California.

Germany has launched the world’s first operational hydrogen trains and US researchers have presented a novel design for a tubular PEM fuel cell. ABB and Hydrogen Optimized, meanwhile, have expanded their strategic ties and Slovakia has moved forward with a major gas-blending pilot project.

The electrification of transportation is set to boost the need for solar energy buildout.

The two will study the scaling and integration of fuel cell systems for stationary power generation.

Modelling 5 to 10 GWh electrified containerships, researchers find that 40% of routes today could be electrified in an economically viable manner, before considering environmental costs.