California

Kore, an energy startup in California, has developed a new way to produce hydrogen from biogas, and is now poised to build a commercial-scale demonstration facility in Los Angeles. It said half of the carbon in the feedstock can be converted into gas, while the other half can be converted into solid elemental carbon char.

The latest global PV installer survey by Germany’s EUPD Research offers a hint of the solar brands which installers, mostly based in Europe, gravitate toward. This year’s report also ventured to South Africa and considered mounting systems for the first time.

US scientists have improved the performance of intermediate-temperature electrolyzers based on protonic ceramic electrochemical cells. Germany and India have signed a hydrogen cooperation deal, while ArcelorMittal has tested the use of green hydrogen in the production of direct reduced iron at a steel plant in Canada.

PV and other renewables supplied 100% of California’s energy needs for about 15 minutes on April 30.

Enphase expects the volume of business generated to rise again for the April-June period, accompanied by another bump in battery shipments.

Academics from MIT and Stanford who have posited a new production method for perovskite solar cells have also developed a machine learning system which benefits from the experience of seasoned workers – and they’ve posted it online for anyone to use.

Scientists in the United States developed a method to observe the structure and mechanics of a perovskite material during its synthesis and transition from liquid precursors to a solid thin film. The group says its work will provide new insight into manufacturing and the development of reliable large-scale processes for perovskite solar cell production.

Scientists in the United States have developed a method to compare the performance and number of defects in different perovskite cell materials. Based on simulations and work with prototype materials, the group finds that all-inorganic materials have higher potential efficiency than their more widely researched organic-inorganic counterparts.

The renewables-powered sustainable hydrogen announcements have come as a group of international researchers made controversial claims about the potential of gas-fired blue hydrogen to be part of the climate change solution.

A report by BloombergNEF and Schneider Electric has pressed the case for governments to unlock the world’s potentially huge rooftop solar potential, and cited California’s solar mandate as a shining example.