A research group led by Professor Martin Green has published Version 60 of the Solar cell efficiency tables.

Lake Onslow, New Zealand, could become home to one of the world’s largest pumped-hydro storage facilities. A local consortium is now conducting a feasibility study and is investigating possible system designs and precise locations.

UK scientists have compared the performance of lithium-ion storage systems and vanadium redox flow batteries for a modeled 636 kW commercial PV system in southern California. They have found that both technologies, coupled with an oversized PV array, could achieve a levelized cost of electricity of less than $0.22/kWh, while offering a self-sufficiency ratio of 0.95.

Japanese scientists have developed a piezoelectric-photovoltaic cell with potential applications in indoor environments. They fabricated it on a flexible polyethylene terephthalate film with sputter-deposited ZnMgO thin film and photo-absorbing selenium as the n-type window layer and p-type layer, respectively.

Japan’s Arth has designed an autonomous habitation module that produces water in places without energy and water infrastructure. The company said the residential unit could also be used as an emergency evacuation site.

Scientists in Norway have managed to run a micro gas turbine plant on pure hydrogen. They claim their experiment paves the way for the use of existing infrastructure to generate heat and power with the green fuel.

Mitsubishi and Japanese utility Kyushu Electric Power are teaming up to use more grid-scale storage, in order to reduce financial losses caused by curtailment.

Australian researchers built a perovskite solar cell with guanidinium bromide and octylammonium bromide cations. They claim the device can achieve a higher open-circuit voltage, while exhibiting better efficiency and stability.

Japan’s Rinnai has unveiled what it claims is the world’s first 100% hydrogen combustion technology for residential water heaters. It is currently using the hydrogen water heater in demonstration projects in Australia, prior to commercialization.

The Albanian government said last week that unspecified developers have agreed to build two 20 MW solar projects in the nation’s Korça region. The authorities also said that renewables operators will now have to pay fees for grid imbalances.