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Massachusetts

Canada’s Grasshopper closes $48m financing deal for U.S. solar expansion

Grasshopper, a Canada-based renewable energy developer, will use $48 million of financing to support four solar+storage projects in Massachusetts.

‘Low-cost renewable hydrogen may already be in reach’

If the three record-busting low solar price tariffs recorded in the Middle East in the past 18 months are to be believed, renewables-powered hydrogen in prime sites in the region could already compete with gas-plus-CCS production, according to IRENA. Has the Gulf discovered the new petrol?

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Badly-sited solar parks affect house prices

Researchers at the University of Rhode Island have suggested US homeowners are prepared to pay $279 per year to avoid living within a mile of a solar plant.

The ‘rubber-band effect’ on renewable energy project margins

David Riester of Lacuna Sustainable Investments, looks at how, on the journey from concept to monetized power plant, renewables and energy storage projects tend to get tugged toward ‘zero’ margin, from either direction. The further the rubber band is stretched, the stronger the pull back toward zero.

There’s something fishy about this flow battery innovation

Scientists led by MIT have suggested chitin, a carbon and nitrogen-rich material made from waste shrimp shells, could produce sustainable electrodes for vanadium redox flow batteries and other energy storage technologies.

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Used EV batteries for large scale solar energy storage

MIT scientists have suggested used electric vehicle batteries could offer a more viable business case than purpose-built systems for the storage of grid scale solar power in California. Such ‘second life’ EV batteries, may cost only 60% of their original purchase price to deploy and can be effectively aggregated for industrial scale storage even if they have declined to 80% of their original capacity.

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Perovskites thrive under pressure

Scientists in the U.S. and Nigeria have studied the effects of pressure on perovskite solar cell production and found the correct application could improve cell efficiency by as much as 40% (relative). Push them too hard though, and they crack.

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Quebec as a big battery for the northeastern US

Researchers at MIT say the immense hydropower resources of the Canadian province could be used as storage to even out the supply of intermittent renewables generation in New England and New York state.

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The path to market for perovskites

MIT scientists have taken a deep dive into solar technology markets in search of an economically sustainable path to commercialization for perovskites. The group estimates $1 billion of capital expenditure would be required to achieve the economies of scale necessary to compete with rival solar module technologies. However, several alternative suggestions for scaling up with lower investment costs were also considered.

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Recycling heat for a ‘385% efficient’ solar desalinator

MIT scientists have developed a solar desalinator which transports heat from the sun through a ten-stage process of evaporation and condensation. The group estimates a $100 device employing their innovation could provide the daily drinking water needs of a family.

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