Technology and R&D

NREL researchers developed a system that uses heated silica particles for thermal energy storage. The baseline technology is designed for a storage capacity of up to 26,000 MWh and is claimed to have a cost of of between $2 and $4 per kWh.

Pyramid Electronics has released three-phase string solar inverters based on silicon carbide power devices. The inverters are available in power ratings ranging from 5 kW to 15 kW, including models with three maximum power point trackers.

H2 Energy Europe is building a power-to-gas project in Denmark and Everfuel wants to put hydrogen refueling stations in Sweden. Chinese energy giant Sinopec said it wants to invest massively in hydrogen and the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has said hydrogen will be the main driver for “very quick” growth in electricity demand.

Conceived by Swiss researchers, the battery shows good stability over 50 cycles, with an average energy efficiency of 68% and a water-splitting voltage efficiency of 64.1%. According to its creators, the device produces pure hydrogen that only needs to be dried and compressed for optimal storage.

Designed by German provider IBC Solar, the mounting structure can accommodate modules with lengths from 1,500 to 2,100mm and widths from 980 to 1,150mm. It comes with floor rails with pre-mounted construction protection mats and integrated cable ducts for up to 28 6mm² cables.

Scientists in the U.S. discovered a promising new battery chemistry based on chlorine and table salt. Batteries based on this chemistry can achieve at least six times the energy density of today’s lithium-ion batteries, according to the group that created it. The prototype battery could already be suitable for small devices such as hearing aids, and with further work could be scaled up to larger applications.

U.S. researchers have proposed a new approach to fabricate solar thermophotovoltaics (STPV) with higher power densities. The novel technique consists of reducing the distance between the emitter and the solar cell to a nanoscale.

Scientists have demonstrated a zinc-ion battery that overcomes many of the challenges for this technology. By working with a highly-concentrated salt solution as the electrolyte, the group was able to achieve stability over more than 2,000 cycles combined with a strong electric performance. The group says that its work opens up “a viable route to developing aqueous batteries for emerging electrochemical energy storage applications.”

The solar cell was manufactured with crystals that were grown directly onto indium tin oxide (ITO) substrates covered with hole transport layer (HTL). These substrates have a controlled thickness of tens of micrometers and area of tens of mm2. The device showed an efficiency of 17.8%, a short-circuit current of 21.0 mA cm−2, an open-circuit voltage to 1.08 V, and a fill factor to 78.6%.

A 50 MW unsubsidized solar PV plant is being developed by Chinese mounting system provider Chiko Solar at a fishery in China’s Jiangxi Province.