Technology and R&D

The Department of Science & Technology (DST) under India’s Ministry Of Science & Technology seeks to fund promising R&D projects in solar panel and battery storage waste disposal and recycling. Call for proposals closes on November 15.

German tech company Tube Solar AG has secured €10.8 million to develop its cylindrical agrivoltaic modules. The lightweight devices could also be used on roofs until now considered unsuitable for PV.

Researchers in South Korea have used the process to increase performance and the replicability of large-area organic cells. The method was used during film formation to speed up solvent evaporation.

Researchers in India have developed a 5 kW/25 kWh vanadium redox flow battery with an energy density of 30 watt-hours to 40 watt-hours per liter.

Researchers have sounded the alarm. If no serious efforts are made on second-life battery use, recycling and vehicle-to-grid applications, decarbonization efforts may hit the buffers a lot sooner than expected.

The U.S. based researchers said linking solar with hydro in a full hybrid system configuration may result – at best – in the deployment of 7,593 GW for an estimated annual power generation of 10,616 TWh and a 20% reservoir coverage. And combining solar with hydro in this way brings further benefits, including improved system operation at different time scales, more opportunities for storage thanks to pumped hydro, increased utilization rates of transmission lines, reduced PV curtailment, and lower interconnection costs and water evaporation.

The CSIR-Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute (CMERI), Durgapur, which has expertise in the design and development of solar artifacts for multifaceted uses, and the National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE), Gurugram, will conduct joint field studies for different solar technologies and work towards skill and capacity building.

French researchers have developed a machine-learning model to clean low-power PV projects and standalone solar arrays in rural areas isolated from the grid.

The Summit will see the signing of four partnership agreements, including one between India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, World Bank, and International Solar Alliance.

Scientists at Saudia Arabia’s King Abdullah University of Science and Technology demonstrated an organic PV cell that can simply be printed onto a piece of paper. The cell set a new efficiency record for a fully inkjet-printed device, and its designers envisage applications in integrated medical sensors.