PowerBank revenue climbs to $22.3 million, announces solar-powered space-based AI computing
PowerBank Corporation, a North American developer and operator of solar and battery energy storage projects, reported $22.3 million in revenue for the first half of its fiscal year and secured new credit facilities to expand its project pipeline.
High-voltage DC solar architecture solves the AI datacenter bottleneck
High-voltage DC distribution enables solar and storage to bypass AC conversion stages for massive gains in data center efficiency and cost, said a whitepaper from Enteligent.
New design specifications for sodium-ion batteries
U.S. scientists used density functional theory to reveal how sodium ions are stored in nanoporous carbon anodes for sodium-ion batteries, identifying dual ionic and metallic storage mechanisms within the pores. Their findings provide practical design guidelines to improve battery voltage, safety, and commercial viability for stationary energy storage.
Researchers achieve record perovskite solar module stability under light, heat, and UV stress
An international research team has developed a new two-dimensional perovskite interlayer based on a co-crystal engineering strategy for more robust perovskite films. It demonstrated improved performance in small area perovskite solar cells and, in a 48 cm2 module, contributed to retain 95% of initial efficiency after 5,000 h.
Ascent Solar expands frontiers for thin-film PV in space
Company also seeks terrestrial applications for its lightweight, flexible modules.
Solar module efficiency could exceed 35% by 2050
A new Perspectives research study on the future of the global PV supply chain outlines how module prices, performance, and lifetimes could evolve over the next 25 years. The work reflects a collaboration among leading solar research institutions worldwide. One of the study’s authors, the director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE), told pv magazine that solar module and cell efficiencies could exceed 35% by 2050, with panel prices expected to drop by a factor of two.
U.S. space solar startup proves wireless power system works in motion
Overview Energy has proven its solar power beaming satellite system works in motion, which it claims is a world first for high-power wireless energy transmission. The company is targeting megawatt transmission from space in 2030.
The role of robotics in boosting U.S. solar recycling capacity
Solar recycler OnePlanet will draw on vision-guided robots and automation to scale their River City facility and recover more, purer valuable materials from spent panels.
U.S. solar manufacturers ink spacecraft deals
An Arizona manufacturer struck an research agreement with NASA, while a company in Colorado will supply thin-film solar to an unnamed private spacecraft company.
MIT spin-out 247Solar aims to decarbonize baseload power and industrial heat
The company opened a $25 million Series B funding round to support its concentrated solar power solution that stores and dispatches heat and electricity.
