Technology and R&D

A US-Chinese research group has developed a full chlorine membrane-free redox flow battery that is claimed to achieve a round-trip energy efficiency of 91% at 10 mA/cm2 and an energy density of 125.7 Wh/L. The device is based on an aqueous electrolyte made of sodium chloride (NaCl) which uses chlorine (Cl2/Cl−) redox couple as the active material for the positive electrode.

The solar cell is based on the titanium carbide MXene and is claimed to have retained around 99% of its initial efficiency for more than 600 days of ambient air storage. The device was built using spray coating to directly deposit the titanium carbide flakes on the cell’s rear side.

The International Renewable Energy Agency has outlined a series of technical considerations for green hydrogen tracking systems. According to the document, a degree of flexibility should be taken into account in the short term to ensure that the nascent green hydrogen market can develop.

Austrian tech company ecop has developed a rotation heat pump with a reported coefficient of performance (COP) of 4.0 – 7.0. The 700 kW machine operates under temperatures of 150 degrees Celsius and is based on an anticlockwise running Joule process, during which there is no phase transition of the working medium that always remains gaseous.

The Chinese manufacturer has presented new products based on its lithium-iron phosphate battery technology. Their capacity ranges from 10.6 to 639.6kWh.

Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a system that can be operated at a voltage of around 12V, with a 95% recovery rate for lost power after cleaning. The waterless system can be operated automatically via an electric motor.

Spanish engineering company Sener has developed a software that analyzes different combinations of panels, trackers or tables, inverters and storage systems, as well as construction costs, depending on the market situation at any given time and the client’s preferences.

Researchers from Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah University of Science and Technology have presented the results of a low-cost method of generating carbon-free hydrogen. In other news, Norwegian fuel cell producer Nel ASA said it was ready to increase its electrolyzer production capacity to meet the European Union’s raised ambitions for renewable hydrogen, while oil giant Petronas Eneos announced plans to set up a hydrogen production plant in Indonesia.

A document compiled by three Italian renewables associations identifies with extreme precision the area that is allowed to be used for power generation in the two most common agrivoltaics configurations — solar arrays with elevated solar modules and PV systems deployed between crop rows.

This week has seen NASA announce the completion of a new folding array set to power a mission deep into our solar system, while scientists continue to work on new applications to take such explorations even further from the sun. New measurements also promise routes to higher efficiency in cadmium-telluride PV, and details emerge of one of thinnest solar cells seen so far.