2023

A British-Chinese research group has developed a novel heat pump concept consisting of a heat pump, the PCM tank, and tube solar heat collectors. Intended for demand shifting in space heating and domestic hot water (DHW) applications, the system is reportedly able to achieve a higher coefficient of performance than conventional heat pumps.

A German-Swiss research team has calculated how many homes in Europe could be decoupled from external infrastructure with solar power, batteries, and hydrogen storage.

Solestial has secured a contract from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), valued at roughly $849,900, to develop ultra-thin PV for solar blanket wings on next-generation spacecraft.

Prime Minister António Costa of Portugal has quit after eight years in office, he announced yesterday. The news came two hours after the public learned the police searched his and other government ministers’ official residences and offices as part of a criminal investigation involving alleged hydrogen and lithium corruption.

French startup Koolboks has developed off-grid solar refrigerators that offer continuous refrigeration for up to four days via solar modules, ice storage, and lithium-ion batteries. The units are available for rental and include two LED lighting bulbs and USB ports to charge phones.

Against the backdrop of its war with Hamas, Israel has started allowing villages to install solar fences to improve protection for residents.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a black perovskite solar cell that reportedly achieved the the highest efficiency ever reported for PV devices built with this perovskite material and a dopant-free hole transport layer based on the P3HT polymer. The cell was also able to retain around 93% of its original efficiency after continuous illumination for 570 h.

A new imaging system for contactless defect detection in roll-to-roll printed thin film solar cell manufacturing lines is available from InfinityPV, a Danish printed electronics equipment manufacturer. The so-called ultrafast laser beam induced current mapping system is suitable for manufacturers of perovskite, organic, kesterite, copper indicum gallium diselenide (CIGS) and amorphous silicon PV foils and can be retrofitted into existing roll-to-roll lines.

Province Resources, which is developing an 8 GW green hydrogen project in Western Australia, has secured additional state licences for more than 600,000 hectares of land, as well as over 864 hectares of the seabed near Carnarvon.

Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd. (GUVNL) has started accepting bids to develop up to 1 GW of solar projects, to be set up on a build-own-operate basis.