The Japanese manufacturer said its new heat pumps have a temperature coefficient of up to 3.4 and a size ranging from 16 kW to 70 kW. The new solution is claimed to be particularly suitable for hospitals, hotels, and residential buildings.

Japan has allocated 56.4 MW of PV capacity in its latest procurement exercise. The lowest bid came in at JPY 7.5 ($0.049)/kWh, while the average final price was JPY 8.17/kWh.

Somalia’s Ministry of Energy and Minerals said the solar-plus-storage systems will be deployed in the Marodi-Jeeh and Awdal regions.

Korean scientists have designed a liquid air energy storage (LAES) technology that reportedly overcomes the major limitation of LAES systems – their relatively low round-trip efficiency. The novel system enhances efficiency by increasing power output through the generation of thermal energy using natural gas as the external fuel during energy release.

Scientists in China have conceived a perovskite solar cell that uses a back mirror based on silver to improve light harvesting. The device could reportedly achieved a power conversion efficiency of over 27%.

An international research team has developed a perovskite-silicon tandem solar cell with a hole transport layer based on methyl-substituted carbazole and submicron-sized textured silicon bottom heterojunction cells. The proposed cell configuration uses commercially available Czochralski silicon wafers and promises efficiencies over 30%.

China-based Envision Energy says that its 5.5 MW /14 MWh grid forming energy storage demonstration platform is the first and biggest single-unit grid-forming energy storage system globally to receive certification under rigorous, full-scenario testing standards.

Researchers in China have created a balloon-integrated photovoltaic system that reportedly represents a feasible solution for emergency PV power generation in mid-to-high latitudes. It consists of a customized balloon, 19%-efficient thin-film cadmium telluride solar cells, an exhaust valve, control and storage modules, fixed ropes, and a cord reel, as well as an upper hemisphere and a lower arc surface.

Developed by researchers in South Africa, the proposed technique is based on the water cycle algorithm (WCA), a population-based metaheuristic optimization algorithm that is inspired by the water cycle process in nature and how streams and rivers flow into the sea.

The research group led by Professor Martin Green has published Version 65 of the solar cell efficiency tables. There are 17 new results reported in the new version.