Technology and R&D

Longi, JA Solar and Yingli have agreed to collectively supply 1.05 GW of solar panels to China Southern Power Grid, while Daqo New Energy has secured board for a planned $700 million share repurchase program.

The Max Planck Institute for Medical Research has produced batene fleece, a fine metal fleece, to act as current collectors in batteries, making them safer and more energy dense. Its Batene GmbH spinoff, backed by €10 million ($10.02 million) of seed funding, is now bringing the tech to market.

KU Leuven researchers have developed rooftop panels that capture both solar power and water from the air. Like traditional PV modules, hydrogen panels are also connected, but via gas tubes instead of electric cables. The researchers are now preparing to bring the tech to the mass market via a spinoff company.

Chinese researchers have assessed the impact of residential rooftop PV arrays on energy use and surrounding air temperatures during extreme heatwaves. They found that panels with higher conversion efficiencies achieved the best results.

An Australian research group has shown how passivating contacts based on transition metal oxides could replace contacts based on doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon or polycrystalline silicon in n-type solar cells in the future. They designed a cell with an open-circuit voltage of 665 mV, a short-circuit current of 40.78 mA cm−2, and a fill factor of 80.8%.

Australia’s Energy Estate has signed a new agreement with Abergeldie, which designs vertical man-made caverns for hydrogen storage. The partnership will focus on a range of projects, including a 1.6 GW hydrogen network.

Stäubli, a Swiss electrical connector manufacturer, has unveiled a new branch connector with both UL and IEC certification.

US scientists have reported efficient plasmonic photocatalysis for the production of hydrogen from hydrogen sulfide, with no external heat source. Egypt, meanwhile, has started commissioning Africa’s first integrated green hydrogen plant.

Researchers led by Germany’s TÜV Rheinland have created a database of technical risks and mitigation measures for PV installations. Their broad overview of quantification methods has shown that further standardization is required.

A new EU-funded project aims to show how heat pump technologies could supply various industrial processes with heat in the 90 C to 160 C temperature range. It also looks at how heat can be extracted from renewable sources like solar thermal, as well as ambient heat and industrial waste heat.