Investors bet $27.5 million on Nanotech Energy’s graphene battery breakthrough
Nanotech Energy plans to release a non-flammable, environmentally friendly lithium battery that can charge “18 times faster than anything that is currently available on the market.” And it aims to do it within the next year.
Long-term assessment of PV panel degradation under hot, humid tropical climates
A Dutch-Hungarian research team has measured, for 12 years, the degradation rates of PV modules installed in an off-grid system located in Ghana. It found that the panels had an average annual decline in power yield of 3.19%.
US start-up pursues roll-to-roll printing of perovskite on flexible glass
A Rochester-based firm aims to print perovskite and other PV layers on a flexible glass substrate using a roll-to-roll machine Kodak has used to produce photographic film.
The best renewables combination for off-grid power supply
Scientists in India have proposed a model to design an off-grid, hybrid energy system based on a combination of solar, wind, biomass, biogas and fuel cell, linked to storage, for electrifying a cluster of three village hamlets in the Indian state of Karnataka. The model is implemented through the HOMER software and a genetic algorithm.
AI model for accurate prediction of organic PV efficiency
Over the last few months, Nastaran Meftahi has been spending her time in pandemic lockdown developing a machine-learning model to predict the future of next-generation organic solar cells.
Tritium launches scalable EV charging solution
Australia’s Tritium has unveiled a new scalable solution, launched in tandem with the next-gen RTM75 DC Fast Charger, to knock down one of the few remaining obstacles to large-scale EV charger uptake.
Akuo deploys 44 mobile solar units in Madagascar
Each unit contains 200 pre-assembled and pre-wired photovoltaic panels and can be deployed in 30 minutes.
Fraunhofer IMWS aims to make it possible to predict reliability and service life of inverters and batteries
The German research institute wants to develop an efficient and reliable methodology, which could contribute to considerable cost reductions in photovoltaic generation – both for manufacturers and operators.
Rectangular aluminum fins for PV module cooling
Scientists in Pakistan have proposed a new passive cooling technique which they claim can improve a module’s open-circuit voltage by up to 12.97% and its efficiency by up to 2.08%.
UK enters the solar space race
The government has commissioned a study into the feasibility of generating solar power in space and beaming the energy down to earth now that commercial space launches have changed the rules of the game.
