Kyocera

French floating PV specialist Ciel&Terre said the plant is being split into smaller islands, with a square shape, to avoid stress concentration.

The scramble for new battery solutions is accelerating as researchers from Singapore tout an electrolyte which which they say produces highly stable lithium-sulfur batteries that maintain performance metrics – a task which has proven tricky thus far.

Electronics corporations Panasonic, Kyocera and LG have filed results for the nine months to December 31. All three reported uplifts because of their solar activity and LG has said it will dive deeper into energy storage. Panasonic is deepening its commitment to automotive batteries through a new joint venture with Toyota.

The Japanese electronics giant is offering a new cell architecture developed by battery start-up 24M, in the U.S., which significantly improves battery economics. Kyocera will be the first company to bring the technology to market.

Storage has long been expected to be the handmaiden of a renewable energy world and its long awaited advances started to finally emerge in the third quarter as researchers posited R&D achievements ranging from potentially potent tungsten disulfide nanotubes to the business case for 10-year solar panels.

Korean conglomerate LG reports increasing demand for its high-efficiency PV products in key markets while Kyocera said its solar business is improving profitability. Panasonic posted a slight increase in sales for its PV segment, including solar manufacturing.

Kyocera’s 13.7 MW floating project at the Yamakura Dam was damaged by 120mph winds the typhoon brought to the coastal city of Chiba. Firefighters said the blaze may have been generated by the strong heat produced by panels stacking up.

Panasonic offloaded some of its PV interests to Chinese HJT cell maker GS-Solar and Kyocera is advertising further savings from its solar operations but neither business unit acted as a significant drag on wider group figures.

The Japanese government has issued a policy to reduce 80% of vehicle-related emissions, but high-power charging facilities for e-buses should also be aligned with distributed PV generation. Kyocera is now optimizing its virtual power plant technologies for this use case.

The Swiss power group and Italian utility Evolvere have started a blockchain pilot project designed to facilitate transparent, secure peer-to-peer energy trading.