Technology and R&D

Research suggests that we can power 80% of the United States with wind, solar, and 12 hours of energy storage, but the replacement of nuclear power plants hasn’t been financially viable. Is that about to change?

Ankica Kovač is an assistant professor at the University of Zagreb and the head of the Power Engineering Laboratory. She is also a member of the Council of the President of the Republic of Croatia for Energy Transition, along with numerous energy transition bodies and working groups.

Xinte’s parent company – TBEA – has agreed to buy new shares issued by the company for RMB2.3 billion and these funds will be used to implement its 100,000 MT expansion plan. Furthermore, EVA solar film manufacturer Bbetter Century and 8 GW factory in the Shaanxi Province.

Gazprom said it will participate in projects to develop technologies for the production, transportation, storage, and use of hydrogen, as well as the utilization of carbon dioxide. Furthermore, Italy’s Fincantieri and Enel are developing an integrated solution for the production, supply, management, and use of green hydrogen for port areas and long-range maritime transport.

Researchers in China have developed a smart solar window tech based on a photovoltachromic device that is able to achieve a high pristine transmittance and to be self-adaptable to control indoor brightness and temperature. The device was assembled via a full solution process in an architecture incorporating glass, a fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) layer, a perovskite-based PV cell, an electrochromic gel, another FTO layer, and glass.

US-based startup Form Energy has secured $200 million Series D funding for the development of what is being called a breakthrough in energy storage.

The blueplanet NX1 M2 series of inverters have an output between 3 and 5 kVa and an efficiency of 97.5%, and are designed for residential rooftop PV systems.

Scientists in India fabricated a redox flow battery based on zinc and iron that showed strong storage characteristics and no signs of degradation over 30 charge-discharge cycles. The battery also showed no signs of dendrite formation, overcoming one of the key hurdles for redox-flow batteries based on these low-cost, abundant materials.

Developed by Chinese researchers, the novel design methodology consists of utilizing metal brackets as mounting structures, conventional solar panels, and a grooved glass plate placed between the solar panels. According to its creators, it ensures a farmer’s average income increases by 5.14 times, including the solar power generation business. A system built with this approach should cost around €715 per kW installed.

The battery operates at 230 degrees Fahrenheit, opening what researchers said could be “a whole cascading cost savings” including everything from less expensive materials to less insulation.