US Department of Energy

The perovskite solar race is heating up, with a cue of manufacturers forming to test products at the US Department of Energy’s (DoE) PV commercialization facilities, and academics on both sides of The Pond announcing new advances in recent months.

Rheem has unveiled an air-source heat pump that provides uninterrupted heating under -30.5 C ambient conditions. It has successfully passed the US Department of Energy’s Cold Climate Heat Pump Challenge.

Sarcos has designed a robotic PV construction solution that delivers, detects, lifts, and places PV modules in large-scale solar plants. It has recently field tested and validated the prototype solution in a pilot project funded by the US Department of Energy.

Trina Solar said it will start operating a new 6.5 GW solar wafer factory in Vietnam from mid-2023 to exclusively supply the utility, commercial and industrial (C&I) segments in the United States, as well as the US residential solar market.

Carrier will soon begin field tests for a prototype air-source heat pump for cold climates. It is designed to provide high-efficiency heating performance in harsh climates with temperatures equal or below negative 29 degrees Celsius, while being grid-interactive. The US-based heating tech specialist expects to commercialize the solution by 2024.

Communities will get help with strengthening energy infrastructure, reducing outage risk, and improving their future energy and economic outlook.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory launched a new catalyst based on nitrogen and carbon to extract hydrogen from hydrogen storage materials at mild temperatures and under normal atmospheric conditions. Furthermore, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said that the country is working on attracting new investments in electric vehicles and hydrogen and Norwegian consultancy and classification society DNV launched, together with 18 industry partners, a new Joint Industry Project (JIP) to enhance the standardization for hydrogen production systems that use renewable energy-powered electrolysis to produce green hydrogen.

US scientists have assessed the viability and potential supply chain impact of extracting lithium from geothermal brines, and they have reported promising results.

Across the United States, more than three dozen solar projects with nameplate capacities of at least 100 MW are set to enter service in 2021. The Texas oil patch is on track to host the largest of them.

Cell supply shortages could kick-start manufacturing activity in India, EV car sales are braced for a fall while still gaining market share and a new date has been set for the world’s biggest solar trade show.