Yes, Australia is blessed with an incredible solar resource, but it will be diminished and returns localised by global warming.
The urgent global need for tens of terawatts of solar capacity to replace fossil fuels by 2050 signals it’s time to hone in on developing the most sustainable technologies — before reserves of silver, indium and bismuth dry up.
Solar cell production could consume every ounce of the world’s known silver reserves within a few years. One industry guru and his UNSW colleagues have set out the case for carefully considering what happens next.
The time is now for the energy consumer, says Anna Bruce, as energy “prosumers” produce, consume, and provide electricity and grid services in previously unimagined ways. Bruce, a senior lecturer at the University of New South Wales’ School of Solar Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering (SPREE), leads work on the role of distributed energy resources in the energy transition, analysing firsthand the dizzying level of complexity it brings.
A review of existing research on any particular topic “should provide some novel insights”, says UNSW solar researcher Dr Matthew Wright. UNSW’s new paper shows defect engineering of SHJ solar cells has come a long way, but what if these proven efficiency gains could be better applied?
In a huge data-crunching project designed to inform rooftop solar-export policy and regulations, UNSW technical and social researchers delve into the costs and effectiveness of inverter standards.
Cross-pollination of scientific and engineering thought within the ARC Centre of Excellence for Exciton Science has led to promising findings on the the cool solar-cell efficiency-boosting mechanism known as singlet fission.
Reducing the cost and increasing the output of the 109 GW of solar PV forecast to be installed in Australia by the year 2050 is just part of the aim of funding announced by ARENA on Friday.
Solar research in Australia has “a long history of being generously funded”, says Senior Lecturer at UNSW, Richard Corkish, but the gap in available grant monies emerging as ARENA nears the end of its current remit could jeopardise some of the country’s most important solar research and development as well as the hubs of expertise themselves.
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