Technology and R&D

A Japanese group has developed a storage system with potential applications in residential storage, electric vehicles, drones and Internet-of-Things devices.

Scientists in the United States have proposed to use a thermochemical energy storage (TCES) technique that stores energy in chemical bonds to recover the heat produced during air compression operations. According to them, this innovation may increase the round-trip efficiency of compressed air energy storage to 60%.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency has announced AUD 40 million ($28.7 million) of research and development funding across two streams. Stream 1 consists of cells and modules, while Stream 2 is focused on balance of system, along with operations and maintenance. It is hoped the additional funding will spur Australia’s pioneering solar research to push for the federal government’s “ultra low-cost solar” target of AUD 15/MWh.

The solar arm of oil major BP is proposing to build an agrivoltaic project in the Upper Hunter region big enough to provide 4% of New South Wales’ (NSW) electricity demand. The project will include 296 MW of storage capacity.

The investment is planned to support development and construction of Hydrostor’s 1.1GW, 8.7GWh of Advanced Compressed Air Energy Storage projects that are well underway in California and Australia, and help expand Hydrostor’s project development pipeline globally.

The campus of the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in the Netherlands is currently hosting a retrofitted existing building provided with heating by an H₂ heating boiler in the attic. The boiler is linked to an underground hydrogen system.

Researchers from Tokyo Tech, AIST, and Yamagata University have demonstrated drastic reduction of resistance at the interface between the positive electrode and solid electrolyte of an all-solid-state lithium battery is achievable by annealing the entire battery cell.

Developed by scientists in China, the cell achieved an open-circuit voltage of 1.192V, and a fill factor of 80.67%. Its perovskite capping layer was treated with a special ionic liquid that had a positive influence on both the device’s efficiency and stability.

Deployment in the building integrated PV segment is accelerating, and so too are the number of solar products available to architects and developers. And while BIPV had long been the segment in which an array of thin-film technologies could shine, they are now in increasingly stiff competition with crystalline silicon rivals.

Researchers in the UK have developed a novel controllable unidirectional ice-templating strategy to fabricate new carbon electrode materials which can boost the performances of sodium and potassium-ion batteries.