World

Solar and wind could meet the global energy demand 100 times over, a new report from the Carbon Tracker Initiative has found. Australia, in particular, is uniquely positioned to capitalise on the transition as one of the few developed countries with vast renewable potential and a low population.

Italian start-up Genius Watter has developed a solar desalination solution that is claimed to be particularly suitable for remote areas with no connection to grid electricity. The system is able to produce up to 1,000 cubic meters of potable water per day at an opex of €0.20 per cubic meter.

Developers have until May 27 to submit bids for state-run power producer NTPC’s projects anywhere in India. In a separate development, company BHEL has issued a global tender seeking module supply partners for an aggregate 750 MW of panels.

Hydrogen is heating up – not only here in Australia, but globally. This week has seen a flurry of news from the U.K. to South Africa, New Dehli to Switzerland. Pv magazine’s roundup of the latest hydrogen news and movements.

The database brings together photovoltaic performance data and meteorological values from PV systems located in all climate zones. It is being built by an international consortium including the Fraunhofer Centre for Silicon Photovoltaics CSP, and the Anhalt University of Applied Sciences.

Researchers in the US ascertained that the partial shading provided by solar parks creates a microclimate that favours the abundant growth of more varied flowers and pollinators. They also found that partial shading increases bloom abundance by delaying bloom timing, increasing forage for pollinators during the hot and dry late season.

New research from Singapore has found that gas pipelines for the onshore transport of green hydrogen and the cables for the transport of electricity to produce it at a distant location have similar costs at a 4000 km transmission distance. For longer distances, gas pipelines were found to be cheaper than cables, although the electric lines are said to benefit from scaling up and higher utilisation. For both options, however, a currently too high hydrogen LCOE remains the biggest barrier to overcome.

The US cadmium telluride thin-film module maker said its Series 6 CuRe panels are able to retain 92% of its performance at the end of the 30-year warranty. The improved stability of the product was achieved by eliminating copper and placing Group V elements such as antimony or arsenic onto the tellurium crystal sites.

The social media giant met its 2018 goal at the end of 2020 and now aims to achieve net zero emissions for its entire value chain by 2030.

Solar power is now the cheapest source of electricity in history, according to a 2020 report by the International Energy Agency. But there’s something holding this clean energy powerhouse back: space.