Technology

A UK-Saudi research group has investigated the impact of uneven soiling on PV modules and has found that it can lead to enhanced performance losses due to different operational effects at intra-cell level. The academics conducted a series of experiments on a residential rooftop in Muscat, Oman, throughout 2021.

Fortescue has officially opened a 2 GW hydrogen electrolyzer factory in Australia and has followed that by also confirming plans to set up a 50 MW green hydrogen production plant in the state of Queensland.

A spinoff of Germany’s Fraunhofer Gesellschaft has developed a compact vehicle-integrated PV system integrated with medical support equipment to provide off-grid, off-road mobile healthcare in rural communities. The PV modules with integrated energy management system supply all the electricity required for maintaining a cold chain for vaccines, medicines and samples.

Greenfuel Energy’s new lithium batteries for residential applications are available in 12.8 V 100 Ah, 25.6 V 100 Ah, and 48 V 100 Ah configurations, with 1 kW to 5 kW of power.

While lithium ion battery prices are falling again, interest in sodium ion (Na-ion) energy storage has not waned. With a global ramp-up of cell manufacturing capacity under way, it remains unclear whether this promising technology can tip the scales on supply and demand.

Hitachi Energy will design and deliver a power quality solution that is expected to enable the transfer of around 280 MW of renewable energy capacity between Scotland and England.

Developed by a research group in China, the two-terminal all-perovskite tandem device utilizes a 23.11%-efficient single-junction top cell relying on an optimized Sn-Pb perovskite material. The perovskite-perovskite cell was also able to retain 95.7% of the initial efficiency after being stored in a glovebox for 2,200 h.

Germany’s K2 Systems has developed mounting systems that are specifically designed for facades, including walls made from masonry, concrete, sandwiched panels, trapezoidal metal sheets, and corrugated sheets.

Researchers in Japan have discovered a stable, highly conductive material that can be used as electrolyte for solid-state lithium-ion batteries. The material’s ionic conductivity is said to be higher than any previously reported oxide solid electrolytes, with a wide operating temperature range.

A group of researchers has identified a multispecies bacterial community that could reportedly increase the efficiency of hydrogen generation via microbial metabolism. The proposed hydrogen system achieved a more than double production rate compared to common biological hydrogen production technologies.