Cost of living, government rebates accelerate Australia’s solar and battery booms
Recent studies forecast Australia is on the precipice of a rooftop solar and household battery boom, predicting record breaking installation numbers driven by falling battery and solar module prices, government rebates and cost-of-living pressures.
Spanish lab develops sodium-ion cell with sustainable materials
Spain’s Instituto Tecnológico de la Energía (ITE) has built a prototype sodium-ion battery cell using high-potential materials and a sustainable polymer-based separator, as part of the SOSBAT project to develop alternatives to lithium-ion storage.
Utrecht energizes vehicle-to-grid car sharing service
The Dutch municipality of Utrecht has become the first city in Europe to introduce a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) car-sharing service. It features Renault 5 E-Tech electric cars that run on clean energy and feed power back to grid the during peak-demand times.
China’s SNEC 2025 show highlights PV industry resilience, storage growth
Chinese solar manufacturers showed resilience at the 2025 SNEC PV Power Expo in Shanghai despite a deepening supply glut, as strong demand for energy storage and emerging technologies offset a steep drop in new PV module launches. Tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) stayed dominant, while back-contact, perovskite, and lithium iron phosphate (LFP) storage solutions gained traction.
Optimizing endless PV-driven heat pump scenarios for costs, self-sufficiency
Researchers have used mixed-integer linear programming-based multi-objective optimization to optimize 30,912 unique scenarios showing heat pumps operating in combination with PV power. The optimization modeling was conducted under day-ahead spot market prices terms.
How organic flow batteries could erase the need for critical-mineral dependency
Vanadium flow and lithium-ion batteries both require materials described as critical by the US Department of Energy (DOE).
US battery supplier Powin files for bankruptcy
Oregon-based battery system integrator Powin faces rising tariffs as it imports lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery components from China.
World’s largest 1 MW/100 MWh sand battery commissioned in Finland
Finnish startup Polar Night Energy has commissioned the world’s largest sand battery in Pornainen, southern Finland. The industrial-scale system delivers 1 MW of thermal power with 100 MWh storage capacity, covering up to a month’s summer heat demand and nearly a week’s winter demand for the local district heating network.
Evert launches wallbox with bidirectional EV charger, PV inverter
Evert has unveiled technical and availability details of its new power management unit, a wallbox that integrates a 22 kW bidirectional DC electric vehicle charger, a 20 kW PV inverter, and a home energy management system. The Norwegian startup targets residential users seeking integrated EV and solar energy solutions.
India offers $631.5 million to support 30 GWh of battery storage
The Indian government has announced viability gap funding (VGF) of INR 54 billion ($631.5 million) to support 30 GWh of battery energy storage systems (BESS), allocating capacity among 15 states and the state-owned power producer NTPC. The scheme provides INR 1.8 million/MWh and requires projects to be commissioned within 18 months through competitive bidding.
