Technology and R&D

A British-German research team claims that organic PV technologies may become mature enough to compete with crystalline silicon and thin-film products not only in BIPV, but also in power generation in the electricity market. In order to get there, however, organic PV products will have to achieve higher efficiencies.

The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the India arm of Norwegian energy company Greenstat to set up a Centre of Excellence for hydrogen in India and accelerate deployment of hydrogen technologies in the country.

According to its creator, Swedish start-up Evolar, the new technology can be applied to existing production lines for crystalline silicon modules and increase a product’s efficiency by around 5%.

Bangalore-based Nunam—which enables second life for used lithium-ion battery cells—is the winner of Pulse India competition conducted by French energy giant EDF. The EDF contest aims at supporting Indian startups committed to developing low-carbon and sustainable energy solutions.  

Once a natural phenomenon – a fortuitous byproduct of thermal generation – the weaning off of coal has made the emulation of inertia a priority for grid operators. It will be a few more years in most markets before a solution becomes needed with any great urgency. However, some markets have needed to come up with solutions – are they a portal into the future of grids dominated by renewables and power electronics?

The thermal energy storage system with a 775 tonnes-of-refrigeration heat rate is installed at IIT Kanpur’s Centre for Environmental Science and Engineering building. It is part of an urban pilot under a joint Indo-US project called UI-ASSIST on Smart Grid and Storage Technology. 

Scientists in France conducted an analysis on the competitiveness of water desalination, taking a large scale project planned for Morocco as a case study. The research concludes that PV without storage is the cheapest option to power desalinators, and will likely remain so until at least 2030.

Indian researchers have created a hybrid salp swarm algorithm to optimize MPPT tracking in PV systems under partial shading conditions. It is based on the swarming behavior of salps in the ocean.

The public sector energy company has opened a compact reformer plant at Delhi Transport Corporation’s Rajghat bus depot. The facility will produce hydrogen-enriched compressed natural gas as a bus fuel. A trial period will see 50 gas-powered buses run on the blended fuel with fuel economy and emissions monitored.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is eager to ramp up deployment of solar-powered dryers, cold storage and charkhas across the nation’s 600,000 villages.