Latest Solar Energy News Global Aug'21

Latest Solar Energy News from around the world: 

1. Desalination using Solar: UrFU scientists, together with colleagues from Iraq, have developed a hybrid technology to increase the efficiency of evaporation inside a solar distiller by means of a rotating hollow cylinder and a solar collector.
2. Solar vs Nuclear: The new Vogtle reactors in the US are rated at 1.117 GW each. Roughly, they’ll run at a 90% capacity factor. On an annual basis, the two units will generate 17.6 billion carbon-free kilowatt hours of electricity. To generate that volume of electricity from solar power on an annual basis, Georgia would need about 10.55 GWdc of solar panels running at a 26% capacity factor. In order to replace the two nuclear plants while the sun is down, the batteries would need to replicate two 1.117 GW power sources for 16 hours. The total energy storage capacity would be 39.3 GWh, after we add an extra 10% for safe measure.
3. Dirty Solar Panels: Only those solar cells created and commissioned from solar-cell electricity should be eligible for favorable treatment. If a cell comes from a factory with a utility meter or a strip mine that gets diesel-fuel deliveries, then it doesn’t qualify.
4. China’s Plan:By 2060 the world’s second-largest economy aims to transform its power generation mix from roughly 70% from fossil fuels today to 90% from renewable sources such as wind and solar, as well as hydro and nuclear power, according to BloombergNEF’s China Policy Bulletin in April.
5. Big Oil’s Plan: Reducing operations’ carbon – complex process to attempt to make oil and gas drilling operations 100% renewable, from running the drilling rigs to generators and compressors and fracking trucks to get people to and from the field.
6. Scarce metals are enough for world’s transition to electric vehicles? The first challenge for researchers is to reduce the amounts of metals that need to be mined for EV batteries. Amounts vary depending on the battery type and model of vehicle, but a single car lithium-ion battery pack (of a type known as NMC532) could contain around 8 kg of lithium, 35 kg of nickel, 20 kg of manganese and 14 kg of cobalt, according to figures from Argonne National Laboratory.
7. USA Plan: Solar could supply more than 40% of the nation’s electricity by 2035 – up from 3% today – if Congress adopts policies like tax credits for renewable energy projects and component factories, according to the Department of Energy.
8. Blockchain in Solar: Japan’s Marubeni plans to create a trading site for used solar panels in association with Next Energy and Resources and the Ministry of the Environment. Blockchain will be used to record the performance evaluations of the recycled solar panels.
9. World’s largest Solar + battery : Sun Cable, the world’s biggest solar PV and battery storage project, backed by billionaires Mike Cannon-Brookes and Andrew Forrest, started out as a 10GW solar project in 2019, before increasing its planned capacity to 14GW, as well as between 20 and 30 gigawatt-hours of battery storage.
10. Bifacial Solar Cell: Scientists at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra have created the world’s first “truly bifacial solar cell”. These panels are dual sided, with both the front and the back of the solar module capable of generating power. Place a mirror behind these cells, and incoming sunlight can be absorbed twice.