Technology and R&D

Lithium-ion batteries can not only improve self-consumption in commercial PV systems but are also able to efficiently perform peak shaving and price arbitrage, according to an international research group which has proposed a new strategy to calculate the best system configuration in terms of costs and revenue. The scientists specified, however, that the novel strategy may become effective only if storage system prices will drop under $250/kWh.

The Australian government has recognized TNG’s flagship Mount Peake Project – a mine that includes production plans for vanadium redox flow batteries and green hydrogen – as nationally significant.

Japanese scientists are about to launch solid-state batteries into space.

A team of researchers from St. Petersburg say they can build a circuit interruptor that works directly into the current collector. The device operates via chemical reactions and would be thus more reliable than current battery monitoring system approaches.

A British-Egyptian research group has tested the use of hydrogels beads for PV module cooling. The micro-sized particles were saturated with aluminium oxide (Al2O3) water-based nanofluids and placed below the simulated PV panels. The experiment showed, according to the scientists, that the hydrogels beads were able to significantly reduce the temperature by between 17.9 and 16.3 degrees Celsius.

Scientists in the UK developed a model to explain one of the challenges to harnessing an oxygen-redox reaction in certain cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries. Based on their improved understanding of the reaction, they suggest several possible routes for further research to avoid the unwanted reactions and develop reversible, high energy density cathode materials.

A cleaning robot optimized for floating PV installations was developed by German manufacturer TG hyLIFT. Also suitable for ground-mount PV, it uses only water without any type of detergent, and is powered by batteries. The robot is now being tested at a floating PV array in Spain.

Funds from the latest part of the Biden administration’s Build Back Better pledge will go to grid modernization, carbon removal, renewable energy, and energy storage, among other technologies.

SEAT and Iberdrola are planning to build an EV battery manufacturing facility in Barcelona with the support of the Spanish government.

Safety when transporting solar PV modules from warehouse to job site is an ongoing issue for installers but one Australian solar company has designed and manufactured a simple yet effective racking system that helps allay those concerns. The racking system comprises an aluminum frame fitted with opposing channels into which the solar modules slide.