Technology and R&D

A Norwegian consortium has built an industrial heat pump that can reach a temperature of up to 180 degrees Celsius. The machine can be used with different industrial processes that rely on steam as an energy carrier and can reduce a facility’s energy consumption by between 40% and 70%, as it enables the recovery of low-temperature waste heat.

Australian National University researchers claim to have set a world record for bifacial solar cell efficiency that they say could boost the energy output of solar farms by 30%.

Scientists in Saudi Arabia have conducted one of the longest tests on the stability of perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells. According to their findings, the most affected parameter under the hot and humid climate of the region is the device fill factor, which dropped from 80% to 50% in just six months.

Next Energy and Marubeni are developing a blockchain tech for PV module inspection – with the support of the Japanese government – which they claim is able to provide data on a panel’s traceability and components as well as verifying that the data were not modified or tampered with.

The new headquarters planned by DEWA is intended to consume no more annual electricity than it generates, from a large volume of rooftop and building-integrated PV.

Australian researchers have tested a novel lithium salt for high-voltage lithium batteries in electric vehicles and grid-scale storage systems. They claim the salt is less hazardous than conventional battery materials.

U.K. business and energy secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has unveiled a new hydrogen strategy aiming at developing both the green and blue forms of the fuel. Furthermore, Thierry Breton, the EU commissioner for the internal market, has said Europe needs to increase its commitment to hydrogen and use nuclear to produce a decarbonized form of the gas.

An Indian-Malaysian research group has investigated the effectiveness of several passive cooling techniques for solar panels, including the placement of plants around the modules or coir pith underneath them, both of which, surprisingly, offered good performance in terms of temperature reduction and power yield.

Soltech Energy has installed a 60 kW solar facade on the wall of a garage in Sweden that hosts 300 EV-charging posts. It features a steel structure to facilitate the flow of air.

The PV-powered geothermal heat pump system was tested for a year, with measurements taken by Researchers at the University of Nottingham. The UK group showed it was able to maintain an indoor temperature over 16 Celsius degrees in all seasons, except for winter.