Japan

Japan has announced plans to invest $150 billion in hydrogen over the next decade, while Malaysia has revealed that it will invest in solar and hydrogen under a new energy roadmap. Separately, Kansai Electric Power and Canada’s ATCO have agreed to collaborate on a feasibility study for green hydrogen supplies.

A new generation of flexible, lightweight modules is entering the market. With back contact technology offering its own form of design flexibility and robustness, the new products could crack a hard-to-address market segment.

Tokuyama said the new factory should meet increasing demand for polysilicon. OCI already operates a polysilicon manufacturing facility in Malaysia.

NGK Insulators has switched on 1 MW/5.8 MWh of NAS batteries under a demonstration project to assess the performance of stationary storage at a site operated by Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO).

Mitsubishi Electric has launched a demonstration experiment to assess the efficiency of heat pumps in demand-response control on the Aran Islands in Ireland and San Pietro Island in Italy. As part of the European Union’s REACT project, solar, wind, and storage solutions will also be implemented to enhance the energy self-sufficiency of isolated islands.

Researchers at Tohoku University in Japan have developed a prototype calcium battery with a long cycle life of more than 500 charge-discharge cycles. The battery was developed using a hydride-based electrolyte and copper sulfide nanoparticle/carbon composite cathode.

Daikin Applied Americas has developed an air-to-water heat pump that can produce 91.2 kW of heat and 23.58 tons of cooling. The new device can be used as a cascade system with water-to-water heat pumps, and can switch between cooling and heating modes, depending on temperature requirements.

A Japanese consortium is now testing a 100 kW fuel cell system in Tokyo. The system uses green hydrogen and waste plastic hydrogen to provide heat to an industrial building. The demonstration aims to establish an urban hydrogen energy utilization model that combines global and local hydrogen sources.

Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) has announced plans to develop an AUD 30 billion ($19,95 billion) green hydrogen production hub on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula, while a new research study shows the feasibility of gas-to-hydrogen pipeline conversion in Western Australia.

Next Energy’s Dulight150 carport hosts bifacial solar panels with power outputs of 590 W and an efficiency rating of 21.1%. It is available in four different versions, with capacities ranging from 3.5 kW to 10.62 kW.