MIT researchers plan to use acenes to make singlet fission solar cells
Acenes are benzene molecules with unique optoelectronic properties. Singlet fission solar cells can produce two electrons from one photon, making the cell more efficient.
MIT scientists develop CSP system to produce hydrogen
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) scientists have developed a train-like concentrated solar power (CSP) system for hydrogen production, with plans to build a prototype in the coming year. They say that this innovative system can capture up to 40% of the sun’s heat to produce environmentally friendly hydrogen fuel.
Re:Build Manufacturing introduces solar ingot processor
Massachusetts-based Re:Build Manufacturing has unveiled the RBM600 Solar CZ Puller, a solar ingot processor designed to manufacture high-purity polysilicon ingots for solar panels.
AI method learns from experienced staff on perovskite solar production lines
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.
Canada’s Grasshopper closes $48m financing deal for U.S. solar expansion
Grasshopper, a Canada-based renewable energy developer, will use $48 million of financing to support four solar+storage projects in Massachusetts.
‘Low-cost renewable hydrogen may already be in reach’
If the three record-busting low solar price tariffs recorded in the Middle East in the past 18 months are to be believed, renewables-powered hydrogen in prime sites in the region could already compete with gas-plus-CCS production, according to IRENA. Has the Gulf discovered the new petrol?
Badly-sited solar parks affect house prices
Researchers at the University of Rhode Island have suggested US homeowners are prepared to pay $279 per year to avoid living within a mile of a solar plant.
The ‘rubber-band effect’ on renewable energy project margins
David Riester of Lacuna Sustainable Investments, looks at how, on the journey from concept to monetized power plant, renewables and energy storage projects tend to get tugged toward ‘zero’ margin, from either direction. The further the rubber band is stretched, the stronger the pull back toward zero.
There’s something fishy about this flow battery innovation
Scientists led by MIT have suggested chitin, a carbon and nitrogen-rich material made from waste shrimp shells, could produce sustainable electrodes for vanadium redox flow batteries and other energy storage technologies.
Used EV batteries for large scale solar energy storage
MIT scientists have suggested used electric vehicle batteries could offer a more viable business case than purpose-built systems for the storage of grid scale solar power in California. Such ‘second life’ EV batteries, may cost only 60% of their original purchase price to deploy and can be effectively aggregated for industrial scale storage even if they have declined to 80% of their original capacity.
