World

The polysilicon producer is sticking by plans to ramp up manufacturing capacity almost 300% within three years and says it will produce the basic material for the new generation of n-type solar panels.

The International Energy Agency said the four nations are on track to contribute 85% of the 18 GW of global renewables capacity which is set to be dedicated to green hydrogen production by 2026. Elsewhere, the Port of Valencia has unveiled a plan to install a green hydrogen supply station in the new year.

Scientists have developed a new model based on fault tree analysis to evaluate the frequency of fires caused by rooftop PV systems and assess system safety and reliability. They claim that the new tool has the potential to identify fault linkages in systems, highlight failure patterns before they arise, and compare multiple designs for safety.

A consortium including Australian concentrated solar thermal power company Vast Solar has filed to patent a new tank design for thermal energy storage systems. The new design, it says, substantially mitigates the risk of tank failures which have been identified as one of the key shortcomings of the economical storage technology.

Developed by scientists in Turkey, a system prototype has operated at lower PV module temperatures and removed most of the dust accumulation. The researchers are now planning to improve the device by applying maximum power point tracking (MPPT) converter topologies.

The Paris-based body expects the world will have installed almost 160 GW of solar this year, a record number, but still not enough to keep the prospect of a net zero global economy by mid century in sight.

As solar PV increases its share in the world’s energy mix, it is becoming increasingly clear how valuable the data gathered from renewable energy generators is in informing important decisions about operation, maintenance and grid integration. Yazeed Al Mousa examines the latest applications for artificial intelligence in PV project development and operation.

The Chinese manufacturer appears to have shouldered higher input costs in return for carving out a larger slice of the world’s biggest solar market – although it’s not clear from the company’s third-quarter update that CEO Xiande Li received the memo.

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.