Technology and R&D

Tech specialists at the “Technological advancement and risk mitigation” panel identified safety and warranties as the key pillars of quality in the battery storage sector. Speakers discussed how these factors shape component selection and long-term project viability.

Scientists have developed a wireless charging system for electric vehicles, with a three-port DC–DC converter at its core. They have simulated the system and tested a prototype in their lab and have found it achieved an improved efficiency of 88%.

Researchers in China have used electrochemical impedance spectroscopy to analyze the state of health of sodium-ion batteries. Extracting four features from the measurements, they were able to create a machine learning model for a temperature-resistant state of health estimation method.

ClearVue Technologies says its solar facade solutions, that combine the company’s solar glazing units into a fully integrated energy generating building envelope, have achieved a payback period of less than three years in a Hong Kong government trial.

Copper indium sulfide (CuInS2) are still far from reaching commercial maturity but new titanium dioxide nanorod arrays can reportedly improve their light trapping, charge separation, and carrier collection.

A European research group has developed a new “empirical” method for measuring the backside irradiance of bifacial PV system. The proposed approach was tested across several European locations and it was found to enable annual performance calculations with a fixed backside irradiance share value.

To evaluate the outdoor performance and stability of perovskite solar cells using contactless and noninvasive methods, an Australian and Chinese research team found a way to use photoluminescence imaging as well as demonstrating a proof of concept for implied open-circuit voltage (iVOC) imaging. Their research relied on cost-effective equipment that operates under direct sunlight.

Conceived for industrial applications, the novel heat pumps can reportedly deliver hot water at 65 C from -10 C up to 35 C of external air, and hot water at 55 C down to -20 C of external air. Their coefficient of performance reaches up to 3.47.

Wattlab has installed a PV system capable of delivering up to 35 kW to a cargo ship’s high-voltage propulsion system, allowing it to temporarily replace one of four diesel generators under optimal conditions.

Nanyang Technological University researchers have milled solar panel glass waste for use in cathodes used in solid state lithium metal batteries. When used as a functional filler in solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) material, the resulting battery performance was maintained over 80 charge cycles with an 8.3 % improvement over the reference device.