Utility Scale Storage

Austrian tech company ecop has developed a rotation heat pump with a reported coefficient of performance (COP) of 4.0 – 7.0. The 700 kW machine operates under temperatures of 150 degrees Celsius and is based on an anticlockwise running Joule process, during which there is no phase transition of the working medium that always remains gaseous.

Sun Cable’s ambitious plans to build the world’s largest solar PV and battery energy storage project in Australia’s remote far north are a step closer to fruition after two of the nation’s richest men provided support for a AUD 210 million ($152.2 million) capital raise.

A look at the interconnection queue of California’s grid operator shows that the US state’s market has already shifted to batteries – sometimes with solar, and sometimes without.

Researchers from Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah University of Science and Technology have presented the results of a low-cost method of generating carbon-free hydrogen. In other news, Norwegian fuel cell producer Nel ASA said it was ready to increase its electrolyzer production capacity to meet the European Union’s raised ambitions for renewable hydrogen, while oil giant Petronas Eneos announced plans to set up a hydrogen production plant in Indonesia.

The Agua+S project under development in the Spanish region of Andalucia is aimed at combining a desalination plant, a pumping station network, and an onshore, floating photovoltaic plant in a single project design. According to its developers this is the first time that these three facilities have been combined together in a fully reproducible design that could be replicated in any river basin that has a reservoir and is close to the coast, to produce fresh water for both irrigation and human consumption.

Huawei and Meinergy plan to build a facility that could end up being Africa’s largest solar-plus-storage project. Huawei will supply its storage tech for the installation.

A Swedish research group has developed a device combining CIGS thin-film solar modules and an alkaline electrolyzer based on a trimetallic cathodic catalyst made of nickel, molybdenum, and vanadium (NiMoV) and an anode made of nickel oxide (NiO). The electrolyzer achieved an average solar-to-hydrogen (STH) efficiency of 8.5% for stable operations during 100 hours.

UL and the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory have released a report on cybersecurity certification recommendations and are actively developing new requirements to create cybersecurity certification standards.

The country’s cumulative PV capacity reached 22.56GW at the end of December.

With fears over Europe’s gas supply tightening, the Australian government is forging ahead in the green hydrogen sector by launching tech incubator HyGate and awarding Volt Advisory Group cash to develop a renewable energy microgrid. Australian business Fortescue Future Industries and Europe’s Airbus will work on hydrogen-powered aircraft and Kawasaki Heavy Industries is making strides in transporting hydrogen from the state of Victoria.