The weekend read: Dreaming of a MENA integrated electricity grid
The spark of renewables in the MENA region has increased the need for new interconnectors. Big projects with high capacities are being planned across borders to raise electricity exchanges across the region, reviving the dream of a MENA integrated electricity grid.
Sodium-ion battery tech gets commercial testing in UK
Harwell Campus will provide a testbed for energy storage technologies coming from three U.K.-based innovative businesses, bringing their solutions one step closer to the market.
The Hydrogen Stream: World’s first full-scale pilot plant for extracting hydrogen from natural gas pipeline
Germany-based Linde Engineering has started up a full-scale pilot plant in Dormagen to showcase how hydrogen can be separated from natural gas streams using its membrane technology. Furthermore, Abu Dhabi-based renewable energy developer Masdar has teamed up with French energy giants Engie and Totalenergies on two separate hydrogen projects and Sweden’s nuclear power company OKG signed its first contract with an external buyer to enter the hydrogen market as a producer and supplier.
Optimal topology for agrivoltaics based on bifacial PV modules
A research team has outlined an optimized array topology for agrivoltaic projects built with bifacial modules. According to its findings, the benefits of bifacial PV arrays are most prominent in stilt mounted projects, where modules are elevated considerably off the ground at over 2 m, thus allowing plenty of light to be absorbed by the rear PV side as well.
Chinese PV Industry Brief: China added 53 GW of new PV capacity in 2021
The National Energy Administration (NEA) reported this week that the newly installed PV capacity for the Chinese market reached around 53 GW last year. Of this capacity, around 29 GW comes from distributed generation projects. The country’s cumulative installed power reached 306 GW at the end of December.
Australia to make world’s-first liquefied hydrogen shipment to Japan
The Suiso Frontier cargo vessel docked at Victoria’s Port of Hastings on Friday to take on the world’s first shipment of liquid hydrogen. The ship’s arrival is a landmark for the Japanese-Australian Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain pilot project, which sees liquefied hydrogen generated from brown coal, and an engineering milestone in itself. But while the Australian government describes the product as “clean”, experts maintain that carbon capture and storage technology has proven only to be an expensive failure.
Chinese solar industry may reach 500 GW module capacity by year end
According to Asia Europe Clean Energy (Solar) Advisory (AECEA), this huge capacity may not be met by actual demand in the global market. Furthermore, the consultancy reveals that solar module prices should reach a price level of up to RMB 1.75 ($028)/W by the second half of the year, and that in 2021 new PV additions totaled 53 GW with more than half of this capacity being delivered by distributed generation.
Four-terminal perovskite/silicon tandem solar cell with 15.5% efficiency
Researchers in India have built the 4T device with top and bottom cells based on large-area semi-transparent perovskite cells with copper metal contacts. Copper has been used instead of expensive gold with the aim of reducing the cell’s overall cost.
Photovoltaic-thermal panel from China
Developed by Chinese specialist SolarMaster, the panel is sold in four different versions with photovoltaic output ranging from 340 to 545 W and solar thermal output of 910 to 1,436 W.
How artificial intelligence can be used to identify solar panel defects
Solar farm operators are turning to AI-powered inspection to speed up the inspection process and improve accuracy. They use algorithms that can automatically detect solar panel defects from images.
