Technology and R&D

Germany advanced its hydrogen ambitions this week with a fresh call for the International Green Hydrogen Promotion Program in Latin America, a collaborative deal with the UK government, and a tie-up between DHL and Sasol for sustainable aviation fuels based on green hydrogen (eSAF).

The two research institutes said the multijunction solar cell is based on silicon, gallium indium phosphide (GaInP) and gallium arsenide (GaAs). The device utilizes a specially designed metal/polymer nanocoating that reportedly optimizes the distribution of light scattering beyond the total internal reflection critical angle in the cell.

Exide Energy is setting up 6 GWh of lithium battery capacity initially, including 3 GWh for lithium nickel cobalt manganese oxide (NCM) and lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells each. It plans to scale it to 12 GWh in the near future.

Honeywell purchased $27.5 million in ESS common stock and intends to purchase $300 million in ESS product, with $15 million prepaid. The collaboration enables Honeywell to integrate ESS technology into its global offering, and ESS gains license to Honeywell’s flow battery intellectual property.

The rise of cost-effective TOPCon cell technology last year led to a ‘surge’ in production demand for solar n-type cell technology, with leading industry analysts TrendForce prophesying PERC cell capacities ‘may’ be phased out in two to three years. The company’s experts, however, warn that oversupply for p-type cells and modules may increase the price gap between n-type and p-type products in the upcoming months.

Attero Recycling, India’s largest e-waste and lithium-ion battery recycler, recently processed samples from the Jammu and Kashmir mining belt and was able to recover 200 PPM (parts per million) of lithium carbonate, which was close to the ballpark range shared by the government of India. Nitin Gupta, chief executive officer and co-founder of Attero Recycling, speaks to pv magazine about the significance of their extraction and refining methods in ensuring India’s self-reliance in critical battery-grade materials. 

OGO Energy will manufacture battery packs incorporating its battery management system and battery cells with improved longevity and heat-resistance made possible by noco-noco’s X-SEPA separators.

Enapter has unveiled its new AEM Flex 120 electrolyzer, which is designed to expedite the deployment of hydrogen projects in the industrial and refueling sectors, with a daily production capacity of approximately 53 kg.

Hitachi Energy has delivered a modular solution to electrify a 20 MW electrolyzer to produce hydrogen to heat steel before rolling, while Enapter has unveiled its AEM electrolyzers for industrial and refuelling pilot projects.

Indian scientists have produced high-purity polysilicon ingots from recycled solar cells using “spark plasma sintering” (SPS), and claim they may achieve a purity level comparable to commercially available products.