RMIT

A group of Australian engineers claim to have discovered a new material to make power-pole insulators resistant to electrical sparking and fire, promising to prevent dangerous pole-top fires, reduce blackouts and lower maintenance costs.

A global team of researchers and industry collaborators, led by RMIT University in Melbourne, have invented recyclable “water batteries” that potentially mitigate safety concerns for large-scale grid energy.

Researchers at RMIT University’s School of Science, Monash University and Australia’s national science agency, the CSIRO, have harnessed artificial intelligence to accelerate the design and production of perovskite solar cells.

RMIT University in Australia has developed new software that integrates product, regulation, technical, economic, and construction data. It helps architects and engineers to estimate the cost of building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) during the conceptual design phase.

Despite soiling and mechanical stress, PV deployed between or close to rail tracks is not just a crazy idea, states an Australian-Bangladeshi research group. The scientists conducted a techno-economic analysis on a 128 kW demonstrator and found it may achieve a levelised cost of energy of only USD 0.052/kWh ($0.080/kWh).

Researchers from RMIT and the University of Melbourne have discovered high-frequency vibrations can release 14 times more hydrogen compared with standard electrolysis techniques. The discovery also has ramifications for the expensive, rare materials currently used in electrolysers. “With sound waves making it much easier to extract hydrogen from water, it eliminates the need to use corrosive electrolytes and expensive electrodes such as platinum or iridium,” research lead Amgad Rezk said.

To encourage industry to consider the battery mineral opportunities currently sitting in neglected heaps around the country, Geoscience Australia and its partners are developing an Atlas of Australian Mine Waste. The public database hopes to highlight the opportunity in reprocessing mining waste for new markets.

Scientists in Australia have developed an optimisation framework for building-integrated photovoltaics that allows the selection of design variables according to user preferences. Their model considers PV-related features such as tilt angle, window-to-wall ratio (WWR), PV placement, and PV product type, as well as objective functions and constraints such as the net present value and the payback period.

As Australia stares down a deluge of worn out solar panels, recycling – and indeed upcycling – programs are grinding into gear. In Victoria, a site has been found for Australia’s first facility to recover and reuse solar module materials, while Reclaim PV has extended its manufacturer partner and pickup location lists.

For the last few months, while her city lay dormant in lockdown, Nastaran Meftahi has been tucked away developing a machine learning model to predict where the most promise for next-generation organic solar cells is held.