Podcast: Beaming Clean Energy From Space

Farbod Moghaddam

fromThe Next Byte

22 Nov, 2022

Podcast: Beaming Clean Energy From Space

In this episode, we talk about the moonshot plan to beam energy harnessed from the sun in space to anywhere on planet earth.

renewable energy

- solar power

- space

In this episode, we talk about the moonshot plan to beam energy harnessed from the sun in space to anywhere on planet earth.

This podcast is sponsored by Duro.

EPISODE NOTES

(4:48) - Beaming Clean Energy From Space

Episode 97 was brought to you by Duro, the PLM platform behind some of Farbod & Daniel’s favorite hardware products!

Click here to learn more about Duro and here to check out the case study discussed in this episode about how Momentus leverages Duro’s platform to be a leader in the space industry with their space infrastructure services.

As always, you can find these and other interesting & impactful engineering articles on Wevolver.com.

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Salt makes solar thermal power more cost-effective

The Évora Molten Salt Platform (EMSP) is a solar thermal research power plant. It is one of the first plants to use molten salt as a heat transfer medium.

Denise Nussle

fromDLR

04 May, 2022

renewable energy

- solar power

Solar thermal power plants use concentrated sunlight to first generate heat and then electricity. They are already in use today in particularly sunny regions, such as Spain, the USA or Chile. To further advance this technology and make it more competitive, the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR), together with the Portuguese University of Évora and European industrial partners, has built and commissioned a unique test facility. The Évora Molten Salt Platform (EMSP) is one of the world's first plants to use molten salt instead of thermal oil as a heat transfer medium. The official inauguration took place on 28 April 2022 in the presence of representatives of the project partners and the Portuguese and German governments.

"Today we begin operating the Évora Molten Salt Platform (EMSP) with the aim of converting the energy of the Sun into controllable electricity. To do this, we are using molten salt – an innovative and competitive technology – to transfer and store heat. The activities developed so far on the EMSP platform prove and validate the feasibility of this type of solar thermal power plant. Considering the goals of the energy transition and the energy crisis that Europe is experiencing, today’s opening is a special day – for us as a university, for the region, for Portugal and for Europe," said the Rector of the University of Evora, Ana Costa Freitas. "Using the energy of the Sun in such a productive way is certainly a field with great possibilities. At the same time, the project is an example of excellent research, good technology transfer and productive networks."

“The Évora Molten Salt Platform is an important step towards advancing solar thermal power as a technology for the energy transition. This facility enables us to test the use of molten salt at the power plant scale for its reliability and operational safety. Both are important criteria for moving quickly from laboratory scale to ind

Image: Lower silicon solar cell and upper perovskite solar cell with transparent contacts (Photograph: Niels van Loon).

Four terminal perovskite-silicon PV tandem devices hit 30 percent efficiency

TU/e researchers Adriana Creatore and Rene Janssen collaborate in Solliance to push the efficiency of solar cells.

Barry Fitzgerald

28 Sep, 2022

renewable energy

- solar power

TNO, TU Eindhoven, imec and TU Delft, partners in Solliance, joined forces to further push the conversion efficiency of tandem solar cells to beyond the limits of today’s commercial photovoltaic (PV) modules. For the first time, four-terminal perovskite/silicon tandem devices with certified top cell pass the barrier of 30%. Such high efficiency enables more power per square meter and less cost per kWh. The result is presented during the 8^th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (WCPEC-8) in Milan, and it has been achieved by combining the emerging perovskite solar cell with conventional silicon solar cell technologies. The perovskite cell that features transparent contacts and is part of the tandem stack has been independently certified.

Additionally, achieving high-power density will create more opportunities to integrate these solar cells into construction and building elements, so that more existing surface area can be covered with PV modules. Breaking the 30% barrier is therefore a big step in accelerating the energy transition and improving energy security by reducing the dependency on fossil fuels.

The best of both worlds

Tandem devices can reach higher efficiencies than single junction solar cells because of a better utilization of the solar spectrum. The currently emerging tandems combine commercial silicon technology for the bottom device with perovskite technology: the latter featuring highly efficient conversion of ultraviolet and visible light and excellent transparency to near infrared light. In four-terminal (4T) tandem devices the top and bottom cells operate independently of each other which makes it possible to apply different bottom cells in this kind of devices. Commercial PERC technology as well as premium technologies like heterojunction or TOPCon or thin-film technology such as CIGS can be implemented in a 4T tandem device with

Podcast: Beaming Clean Energy From Space

In this episode, we talk about the moonshot plan to beam energy harnessed from the sun in space to anywhere on planet earth.

EPISODE NOTES

The best of both worlds

Solar cells do not have to be black. And they can become part of the house facades of the future

Concentrating solar thermal technology ready for efficient use in Germany

New tool to help maximise nation's solar and wind potential

In this episode, we talk about the moonshot plan to beam energy harnessed from the sun in space to anywhere on planet earth.

EPISODE NOTES

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