Technology

Researchers in Spain have designed a pumped thermal energy storage system that uses supercritical carbon dioxide as a heat pump and a heat engine. The proposed system is claimed to achieve an efficiency of 80.26% and an LCOS of €0.116/kWh.

Developed by researchers in Saudi Arabia, the novel approach considers both the temperature-dependent power yield and the solar module time to failure (TTF), among other factors. According to its creators, the model can be applied to all kinds of module and cell technologies.

The Chinese electronics specialist has unveiled the first DC/DC converter in its product offering, dubbed the DC-coupled LSP 100K. The device features an efficiency of 97.9% and a European efficiency of 97.5%.

The Zeppelin project is expected to generate more than 135,000 tons of green hydrogen from 99 million tons of waste and 50 million tons of municipal wastewater.

“We’re not talking about incremental improvement, this is a really giant leap,” Hysata CEO Paul Barrett told pv magazine Australia. Hysata is commercializing a breakthrough made at the University of Wollongong which effectively, Barrett says, invented a “brand new category of electrolyzer,” vastly improving efficiency.

A Dutch-Chinese research team has developed a bifacial heterojunction PV cell with a 67% reduction in transparent conductive oxide (TCO) use. The TCOs used for the cell are based on indium(III) oxide (In2O3), which is considered a technology-critical element by many experts.

A unit of Enel plans to deploy 5MW/10MWh of second-life batteries at Rome-Fiumicino International Airport, where a 30MW solar park is now under development. The modular storage system will include different second-life lithium-ion batteries, mainly based on nickel, manganese and cobalt chemistry, with usable storage capacity ranging from 10kWh to 25kWh.

The US Department of Energy’s durable materials consortium is a multi-laboratory unit that stress-tests solar modules for durability. It aims to extend the useful life of PV.

The company’s German customers can buy, together with the modules, CO₂ certificates so that the products are completely neutral. According to the manufacturer, the additional costs are about €11 per module.

French specialist Sun’Agri is developing a pilot project to combine solar power generation with the cultivation of peaches, apricots, and cherries.