Renewable Energy

June 2016
Neutron diffraction studies reveal origins of deterioration in lithium batteries

Top left: schematic diagram and cell environment for the in situ experiment using an 18650 cell in the SPICA diffractometer, with examples of the data analysis using the data analysis program developed in the present study. A schematic diagram shows the flow chart of the analysis process for the automatic refinement cycle.

Researchers use diffraction data from pulsed high-intensity neutrons to understand the reactions that deteriorate lithium batteries during operation. Despite the commercialisation of rechargeable lithium batteries in 1991, improvements to the reliability, safety, and long-term stability are still needed for th
. . . Learn More
Date:
06/30/2016
Tesla aims to speed clean energy transition with Solar City Deal

Tesla announced it has made an offer to buy SolarCity

For Elon Musk, it was “kind of an obvious thing to do.” Recently, energy storage and electric vehicle provider Tesla announced it has made an offer to buy SolarCity, the largest residential solar installer in the United States. The move would turn Tesla into a vertically-integrated clean energy company, wi
. . . Learn More
Date:
06/29/2016
Electric vehicles (EVs) will need to increase their combined market share to 16% by 2020 to achieve the aggressive fuel economy standards set by regulators, according to new research by the World Energy Council. While EVs currently represent less than 1% combined market share across the world’s largest markets fo
. . . Learn More
Date:
06/29/2016
Powin Energy, a leading designer and developer of safe and scalable energy storage solutions for utilities, C&I, and EV fast-charging stations, announced that their proprietary Battery Pack Operating System(bp-OS) has been awarded United States Patent and Trademark office patent number US20140015469 A1, wh
. . . Learn More
Date:
06/29/2016
EnerKnol Research releases primers on the State of Solar: 2016

The U.S. is expected to add two times more solar in 2016 compared to 2015 thanks to declining PV technology costs, state programs, and federal incentives

The U.S. is expected to add two times more solar in 2016 compared to 2015 thanks to declining PV technology costs, state programs, and federal incentives. Two state programs have primarily accelerated the adoption of distributed solar: renewable portfolio standards – regulatory mandate to increase renewable en
. . . Learn More
Date:
06/27/2016
As part of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan to create American jobs, develop clean energy sources and cut carbon pollution, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell announced the first step to support wind energy development in federal waters offshore Hawaii, by issuing a call for information and nominations to
. . . Learn More
Date:
06/24/2016
Novel Bifacial Cell technology to enhance energy yield of PV modules

bifacial n-PERT (BiPERT) solar cell

Imec, a leading nano-electronics research center and partner in Energyville, will present at this week’s Intersolar Europe/EU PVSEC a highly efficient bifacial n-PERT (BiPERT) solar cell featuring a bifaciality value close to 100%. With a rear cell efficiency close to the efficiency measured from the front of
. . . Learn More
Date:
06/23/2016
AEG Power's hybrid energy solution cuts costs of energy storage

Hybrid Energy Storage System

AEG Power Solutions, a global provider of power electronic systems and solutions for industrial power supplies and renewable energy applications, today announced it has developed a unique Hybrid Energy Storage System which combines standard battery storage with power-to-heat technology to reduce the total cost of
. . . Learn More
Date:
06/22/2016
Tesla’s mission has always been tied to sustainability. We seek to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable transportation by offering increasingly affordable electric vehicles. And in March 2015, we launched Tesla Energy, which through the Powerwall and Powerpack allow homeowners, business owners an
. . . Learn More
Date:
06/22/2016
Intersil's 12-cell Li-ion battery pack monitor safeguards vehicle systems

Intersil 12-cell lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery pack monitor

Intersil, a leading provider of innovative power management and precision analog solutions, announced the ISL78610 12-cell lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery pack monitor. The device provides cell balancing and accurate voltage and temperature monitoring to safeguard Li-ion battery packs in hybrid electric vehicles, pl
. . . Learn More
Date:
06/20/2016
From early days working on projects to add communication and intelligence to power supplies, which eventually became the Digital Power industry known today, the question of safety and security and how the power supply industry was prepared to address such issues continues to grow in importance. While there is ve
. . . Learn More
Date:
06/13/2016
Expectations for digital power have run high, especially when one considers the explosive growth created by digital logic in many other markets. However, overall, acceptance of the technology has arguably been firm rather than explosive, despite even the early digital power solutions being at least equal and ty
. . . Learn More
Date:
06/13/2016
Harsh environments are a reality for many electrical systems used in motor control or solenoid control applications.  The electronics that control motors and solenoids are by necessity in close proximity to the high currents and voltages used to create the physical movement required by the end application.  In addition
. . . Learn More
Date:
06/13/2016
It should come as no surprise to anyone that the continuing adoption of Digital Power System Management (DPSM) within the communications and computer industries continues to be driven, in large part, to the high current levels demanded by the sub-20nm ASICs and/or FPGAs that are at the core of their system architecture. By
. . . Learn More
Date:
06/13/2016
Working in the industry, we live very close to the developments that are advancing our technology and the systems based upon them. We see nascent science turn into rough prototypes and then into finished products on a regular basis. We are familiar, even if not comfortable, with the rapid pace of progress and ho
. . . Learn More
Date:
06/13/2016
Wildcat Discovery Technologies, a technology company using high-throughput methods to develop improved battery materials, is pleased to announce the discovery of its new SuperTemp electrolyte technology. SuperTemp reduces cell impedance (ASI) by 40% at low temperatures of -25oC and by 30% during 60oC high temperature storage
. . . Learn More
Date:
06/13/2016
There have been several comparisons of eGaN FETs with silicon MOSFETs in a variety of applications, including hard-switched, soft-switched, and high-frequency power conversion. These studies have shown that eGaN FETs have large efficiency and power density advantages over silicon MOSFETs. Here we’ll focus on
. . . Learn More
Date:
06/13/2016
Now that the first generation of mass-market consumer wearables are on the shelves, we can take a step back and analyze the issues that they have encountered and begin to architect a new generation that improves on their design. Key issues that are apparent are the need for greater battery autonomy – consumers wa
. . . Learn More
Date:
06/13/2016
UNSW achieves milestone in solar cell efficiency

Dr. Mark Keevers, University of New South Wales

A new solar cell configuration developed by engineers at the University of New South Wales has pushed sunlight-to-electricity conversion efficiency to 34.5% – establishing a new world record for unfocused sunlight and nudging closer to the theoretical limits for such a device. The record was set by Dr. Ma
. . . Learn More
Date:
06/11/2016
Integration or optimization…which comes first?

Larry Spaziani, GaN Systems

At APEC 2016 it became abundantly clear to the industry that GaN transistors are here, they're now, and they're proliferating. GaN Systems, EPC, Transphorm, Panasonic, Infineon, Texas Instruments, and other manufacturers and developers all displayed GaN products in varying readiness, from existing only on P
. . . Learn More
Date:
06/11/2016
What’s Really Driving the Growth of Smart Grid?

Kevin Parmenter, PSD Contributor

We have heard quite a bit lately about the smart grid and alternative energy, yet what does this really mean?   At the present time, at least from a numbers perspective, the smart grid actually means smart metering at the point of use.  The number of smart meters being deployed keeps growing quite sim
. . . Learn More
Date:
06/11/2016
In this article we’ll show how a third way of defining average current leads to an infinite gain of the modulator gain for current-mode systems. Another simple derivation produces a fourth expression for the modulator gain, thus completing the set of gains to be found in the literature. Different Current-Mode Modu
. . . Learn More
Date:
06/11/2016
Solar glut in California highlights demand for a more integrated regional grid

Regional grids like the one proposed to share all kinds of power already thrive in the Midwest, New England and in the mid-Atlantic

In California, there is so much solar energy that grid operators have to switch off solar farms. One solution of dealing with the additional power generated is to share the renewable wealth across state borders. Right now, California’s grid runs mostly on its own, like an island. But if there was one big Western gr
. . . Learn More
Date:
06/08/2016
Will conductive inks help wearables go truly wearable?

E-textiles are on the cusp of rapid growth

The first generation of wearable devices are constructed using mature, rigid technologies put inside a new box that can be worn. These are often bulky devices that are not truly wearable in the sense that our clothes are. This is, however, beginning to change, albeit slowly. New conformal, clothing-based components ar
. . . Learn More
Date:
06/06/2016
Health food just took on a whole new meaning. Engineers have created an edible supercapacitor that can wipe out E. coli or power a camera from inside the body. Foods like activated charcoal, gold leaf, Gatorade, seaweed, egg white, cheese, gelatin and barbecue sauce can store and conduct electricity. Sandwich th
. . . Learn More
Date:
06/06/2016
Fluidic Energy has appointed Jim Enzor to the role of Chief Financial Officer as the company continues global expansion of its game-changing long duration zinc air energy storage technology. As CFO, Jim will lead global finance and play an instrumental role in driving top-line growth and margin expansion, and se
. . . Learn More
Date:
06/03/2016
World's first grid-connected tidal array almost complete

One of OpenHydro's turbines is tested before being lowered into the ocean

UPI - A French energy company is a step closer to bringing the world's first grid-­connected tidal array online. Over the weekend, the second of two turbines was lowered into the water off the coast of Brittany. The first turbine was installed in January. The Paimpol-Bréhat tidal array project and the e
. . . Learn More
Date:
06/01/2016
Archives