Distributed Storage

The TotalEnergies-controlled solar manufacturer will secure an, as yet undetermined chunk of a new €118.6 million low-carbon innovation fund to start producing its frameless, glass-free solar roofing products at Porcelette, in northeastern France.

Professor Thomas Nann told pv magazine Australia that a breakthrough idea was almost too simple: “Actually when we submitted the patent in the first place, the patent officers came back to us and said ‘well, that’s too trivial’ and we made exactly that argument – why did no one else do that then?” said Nann.

Known as Australia’s “Sunshine State,” Queensland households have, in just two years, doubled their residential energy storage, according to a new survey. The figures reveal 37% of Queensland households now have panels installed, with a further 22% looking to install or upgrade their systems.

Made up of distributed residential energy storage, these “plants” stabilize the grid and often end the need for new fossil generation. Tesla customers in California are the latest to join the movement.

Australia’s first lithium-ion battery manufacturer, Energy Renaissance, has received a grant to develop its pilot manufacturing facility in the Hunter region.

The system can be expanded to a capacity of up to 25 kW. Its creator – U.S.-based start-up EcoFlow – has already collected almost €4 million on the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform for its portable power supply solution.

Two Italian experts on heat pumps and PV systems recently spoke to pv magazine about economies of scale, the European market, and the maturity of heating tech. The Eurac researchers said currently available heat pumps can run at -20 C and efficiently provide hot water up to 65 C.

A group of scientists argue that centrally managed, flexible PV fleets could be an optimal solution for Italy. And they claim that a mix of storage and curtailment could facilitate the deployment of 130 GW of PV by 2060 at a minimal cost.

Compressed air energy storage is not exactly a new technology, but recent months have seen it get a new lease on life, as intermittent renewable sources of energy come to the fore.

Recent research has revealed a previously underestimated role for oxygen in limiting the performance of lithium-ion batteries. Newly published research from both Japan and the United States has sought to look deeper into the chemical reactions at the heart of lithium-ion storage; and to better characterize the cumulative effects that minuscule amounts of oxygen released during these reactions can have on battery performance and safety.