Technology and R&D

UK-based Xlinks plans to build 10.5 GW of wind and solar in Morocco and sell the power in the United Kingdom. London-based investment firm Octopus Energy said it joined forces with the project developer, Xlinks, to help it move forward with construction.

A new US Department of Energy report describes the challenges of commercializing perovskite technology for the solar energy sector.

Evonik Industries says its new additive series can achieve a significantly better cut quality ratio at higher cutting speeds and smaller wire diameters on large wafers (M12), which means cheaper post-processing work for sliced ​​wafers.

Scientists in the United States have fabricated a triple-junction solar cell that reached 39.5% efficiency – a world record for any type of cell under one-sun illumination. Though relying on materials and processes that are still too costly for most commercial uses, the concept could soon see actual applications in powering satellites and other space-bound technology.

Kore, an energy startup in California, has developed a new way to produce hydrogen from biogas, and is now poised to build a commercial-scale demonstration facility in Los Angeles. It said half of the carbon in the feedstock can be converted into gas, while the other half can be converted into solid elemental carbon char.

A Spanish-Italian research group was able to improve the efficiency and stability of a standard perovskite solar cell by adding nitrogen-doped carbon dots as an additive. The carbon dots were then blended with the perovskite precursor solution at two different concentration levels and both were deposited by spin coating on the perovskite layer.

UK-based Synchrostor has developed a new pumped thermal energy storage (PTES) system. It is purportedly fully reversible in 30 milliseconds and can achieve a round-trip efficiency of around 70%. The proposed storage technology can also provide grid inertia and ancillary services.

Reclaim PV Recycling and the Circular PV Alliance (CPVA) have have agreed to jointly develop standards and testing procedures to support the reuse and resale of solar panels in Australia. Reclaim PV recently discovered that more than 31% of the solar panels collected in the Australian state of Queensland could be considered for reuse, rather than recycling.

Conditions that are 10% shaded can render a typical solar panel useless, but Optivolt said its technology can deliver up to 25 times more power in the shade than conventional panels.

Scientists in the United Arab Emirates have looked at how off-grid rooftop PV could be combined with batteries, fuel cells or reversible solid oxide cells for energy storage. The modeling assumed a typical commercial building in Los Angeles.