Photovoltaic technology is forever changing, as researchers and developers pursue new ways to maximise performance. In recent years there has been an increasing focus on n-type silicon solar cells, which are doped with phosphorus rather than boron. They have the potential to reduce cell degradation and improve solar generation over the system’s lifetime. As such, n-type cells are being adopted by more manufacturers and may come to dominate the market...
In the last few years there has been a surge in clean or renewable energy tariffs - in May, over half the tariffs on the market were advertised as ‘green’. But there are conflicting views on the ‘greenness’ of electricity tariffs, often coming from suppliers looking to prove their stance is the right one.
So how green are green energy tariffs really? And what’s the best way to ensure your home is running on zero carbon power?
Good Energy estimates that the UK will need 23-55 GWh of domestic storage to reach net zero, which is equivalent to 1.5-4 million Tesla Powerwall sized batteries in people’s houses. Why? Because battery storage in homes is vital to help people use more renewable energy, reduce the evening peak demand and avoid costly transmission upgrades to the national grid.
The demand for lithium ion batteries is rocketing. They are used in everything from mobile phones and laptops to electric cars and Tesla Powerwalls.
Data source: Bloomberg.
Energy dense lithium batteries are proving an invaluable technology in fighting our dependence on fossil fuels. They can help to decarbonise transport and store renewable energy from solar and wind. That’s one of the reasons the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to the developers of the lithium ion battery.
But with a predicted 9,300GWh of Li-ion battery capacity by 2030, what will happen to all these devices at the end of their useful lifespan?
When you work at the coal face of the solar industry (get your head around that one...), it is sometimes interesting to take a step back to see where the market has come from and where it’s headed.
We’ve spent some time taking stock of the current state of solar technology.
In the old days of solar PV, after your system was fitted, the only way to know how much power you produced was from the generation meter ticking up each day, or reading the screen on the inverter.
As inverters got better and integrated with WiFi, they allowed you to track daily, monthly and yearly production figures using your phone or computer. Although, one thing that you could never be sure of is the total amount of PV energy consumed on site.
But times have changed, and there are now much better ways of monitoring solar export and self consumption.
In a recent NUS survey, 90% of students said they were concerned about climate change (about 10 percentage points higher than the population as a whole). Students, and young people in general, are naturally more anxious about the climate crisis - the impacts of a destabilising environment will only become more acute over their lifetimes.
Demand for warehouse space in the UK is booming this year, as more of us turn to online shopping while the virus keeps us away from the high streets. The proportion of retail done online (which was already on the rise) has skyrocketed:
We’re very excited to share our recent solar installation at West Reservoir Centre, an outdoor swimming facility in Hackney. It is the first installation in a new solar power scheme launched by Hackney Light and Power, as part of its mission to make the borough net zero carbon by 2040.
