Technology and R&D

Australia and Chile are both granting funds to green hydrogen projects and Denmark is exempting pilot power-to-gas projects from complying with its energy legislation. Furthermore, the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP is working to find solutions for private customers to produce hydrogen.

Scientists in the UK reported a breakthrough in lithium-oxygen batteries, achieved by experimenting with different electrolyte compositions. Working with ionic liquids, they were able to tweak the electrolyte recipe to minimize unwanted reactions during battery cycling, and greatly improve on both performance and stability.

American Resources Corporation is developing a process to separate pure rare earth metals from lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles or power plants based on renewable energy. The technique is described as a two-zone ligand-assisted displacement chromatography (LAD) that is able to produce metals with high yields and purity of over 99%.

Scientists in China have analyzed the radiative cooling techniques used in combination with solar energy systems such as PV arrays, solar thermal collectors, and concentrated PV installations. They identified five major system typologies based on functionality and working time.

Arkolia has coupled a biogas purification plant in France with a 100 kW rooftop solar array.

The bifacial device showed a power conversion efficiency of 5.2% on the front side through an n-type contact and 2.7% on the rear side through a p-type contact.

Norway’s Glint Solar and the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute have developed an algorithm that is able to automatically calculate wave heights and wind directions at potential locations for floating PV arrays. It considers the geometry of the water surface as well as 40 years of data on wind conditions.

US based battery company Solid Power announced that it has received $130 million in new funding from investors including Ford and BMW. With this backing, the company plans to begin pilot scale production of solid-state lithium-ion batteries suitable for electric vehicles early next year.

The cell features an open-circuit voltage of 1.1 V and a short-circuit current of 26 milliampere per cm-2, which the research team described as the best performance for an inverted perovskite cell based on single-crystal methylammonium lead triiodide. The device was built with a microns-thick absorber layer placed between an electron transport top layer and a hole-transport bottom layer.

German solar association BSW and environmental association Naturschutzbund have published a joint paper that defines criteria that can be used to establish whether a ground-mounted solar plant is able to protect nature and species, as well as to add ecological value to the area it occupies.