Energy & Decarbonization

Consumer batteries such as those used in power tools, mobile phones and laptops are normally recycled/disposed after their service life - that's what we normally refer to as the 'end-of-life' of the batteries. However, retired car batteries that are no longer suitable for electric cars could still hold sufficient capacity for second life applications. The 'end-of-life' of an electric car battery needs to be redefined as they could be further used, for example, for another 10 years or even longer in various post-vehicle applications before they are finally recycled/disposed.

The Advanced Automotive Battery Conference (AABC) is a global series of conferences for companies and academics to present their latest research on Li-ion batteries for the auto industry. Every year it is held in Europe, the U.S. and Asia.

Magically, next generation electricity production continuous (base) electricity production can avoid the massive concrete and steel structures currently used for nuclear power stations with their 1000 year fuel rod problem.

There has been a resurgence in interest and activity surrounding fuel cell technologies for stationary storage applications in 2018. In this premium article, IDTechEx looks at the most suitable technologies for off-grid power and explores the chemistry behind the use of ammonia as an off-grid fuel source in more detail.

Organic photovoltaics were once considered the next generation of photovoltaic technology. They had huge hype because they had a seductive value proposition: R2R printing of high-performance, robust and flexible solar cells over large areas using low-cost materials and low CapEx high-throughput equipment. progress

Solar powered pumps can be used to provide farmers with a cheap, renewable and zero emission solution for their irrigation needs. In this article, IDTechEx looks in more detail at the area of solar powered irrigation pumps.

Thinking beyond the hype: Industrial IoT, Satellite communication, artificial intelligence and machine learning, 5G and network innovation

The growth of distributed renewable energy generation has seen the emergence of many new concepts and business models. One such example is peer to peer energy trading. In this article IDTechEx looks at this new field in more detail, including a review of the technical and regulatory challenges and analysis of a number of key case studies.

In this article IDTechEx gives a short overview of the topic of wide bandgap semiconductors covering the fundamental material science, the key players, the market potential. The impact on a range of applications will also be discussed, with a focus on renewable energy systems and microgrids.

IDTechEx attended the event last week to meet with key stakeholders including industrial OEMs, power module manufacturers, established semiconductor companies and innovative new GaN (gallium nitride) and SiC (silicon carbide) developers to report back on the current and future trends. The following article is the second of two parts and provides a summary of some of the key GaN related developments and at the event and their impact on various industries and applications.