Australian government praises vanadium project
The Australian government has recognized TNG’s flagship Mount Peake Project – a mine that includes production plans for vanadium redox flow batteries and green hydrogen – as nationally significant.
First Solar signals interest in US tellurium supplies for solar panel production
Rio Tinto plans to spend nearly $3 million on a facility in Utah to recover tellurium, a critical mineral used in solar panels.
Solid-state batteries in space
Japanese scientists are about to launch solid-state batteries into space.
Reusing PV modules poses opportunities and challenges
In a new study, PV Cycle and Imec/EnergyVille examine the growing PV module reuse sector and detail both the opportunities and challenges of employing second-hand systems, especially in developing countries.
A ‘chemical fuse’ – voltage sensitive polymers in the fight against battery fires
A team of researchers from St. Petersburg say they can build a circuit interruptor that works directly into the current collector. The device operates via chemical reactions and would be thus more reliable than current battery monitoring system approaches.
Passive solar module cooling based on hydrogels beads and nanofluids
A British-Egyptian research group has tested the use of hydrogels beads for PV module cooling. The micro-sized particles were saturated with aluminium oxide (Al2O3) water-based nanofluids and placed below the simulated PV panels. The experiment showed, according to the scientists, that the hydrogels beads were able to significantly reduce the temperature by between 17.9 and 16.3 degrees Celsius.
Hard times for french PV module maker Photowatt
According to French financial newspaper Les Echos, EDF, the main shareholder of PhotoWatt, is considering closing the production in Bourgoin-Jallieu. The Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regional council is mobilizing to save the company and announces that a regional company may acquire the module manufacturer.
South Korea wants to deploy another 2.1 GW of floating PV by 2030
The country’s Ministry of Environment has revealed that five dams have already been identified for a total of 147 MW of projects. The new target is part of South Korea’s plan to become carbon-neutral by 2050.
Six new ways to boost battery energy density
Scientists in the UK developed a model to explain one of the challenges to harnessing an oxygen-redox reaction in certain cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries. Based on their improved understanding of the reaction, they suggest several possible routes for further research to avoid the unwanted reactions and develop reversible, high energy density cathode materials.
Cleaning robot for floating PV
A cleaning robot optimized for floating PV installations was developed by German manufacturer TG hyLIFT. Also suitable for ground-mount PV, it uses only water without any type of detergent, and is powered by batteries. The robot is now being tested at a floating PV array in Spain.
