Technology

Japanese scientists have developed an organic-inorganic halide perovskite compound for the chemical storage of ammonia (NH3), while Bosch is preparing to exhibit new products in the hydrogen value chain.

German scientists have fabricated a carbon electrode perovskite solar cell with a hole-transporting bilayer made of organic semiconductors instead of a conventional hole transport layer. They claim this approach improves the device’s fill factor and open-circuit voltage.

A group of researchers from China assessed the impact of floating PV systems on the radiation, energy flux, and driving forces on lakes under varying meteorological conditions. It found that the impact of a PV array on the sensible heat flux of a lake is 1.5 times that of a natural lake.

The US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and its partners have assessed the technical potential for floating PV throughout Southeast Asia.

Researchers led by Korea’s UNIST developed a new redox flow battery concept that utilizes iron and chromium ore for redox chemistry. The proposed battery configuration may reportedly achieve a stable lifetime of 500 cycles, and a high-energy density of 38.6 Wh L−1.

PowerRack is PowerField’s portable, ballasted racking system that is used in residential, commercial, industrial, and now utility-scale solar.

Germany’s Agri Energia has switched on a pilot agrivoltaic facility near Munich to protect hop plants from sunlight and hail, while also reducing evaporation. It is installed on steel masts that serve as support for the hop plants.

Scientists in Australia have provided a comprehensive review of all strategies and technologies that can be used to increase the dispatchability of solar power with reduced use of storage. They focused their efforts, in particular, on forecasting and controlling PV power.

AusNet Services’ independent subsidiary, Mondo Power, has commissioned 17 standalone power systems featuring PV and battery energy storage, as part of its inaugural trial of the offgrid technology.

A year after achieving what at the time was a world record efficiency for a tandem perovskite-silicon solar cell, scientists from EPFL and CSEM published a paper showing the technical features of the device and how that result was made possible. The key was regulating the perovskite crystallization process using an additive in the processing sequence.