<section id="isPasted">The global push for renewable energy is undeniable. Fueled by a potent combination of international cooperation and escalating climate concerns, renewable energy is experiencing a surge. At the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) in December 2023, over 130 countries committed to tripling renewable energy capacity to 11,000 GW by 2030. Underscoring this commitment, GWEC Market Intelligence projects a significant expansion of 791 GW of new wind energy capacity in the next five years under current policies. With a <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/electric-power-and-natural-gas/our-insights/offshore-wind-strategies-for-uncertain-times" target="_blank">vast theoretical potential of up to 70,000 GW</a> according to recent data shared by McKinsey, offshore wind is poised for significant growth.However, maintaining these colossal turbines, often located miles out at sea, presents a unique set of challenges. Traditional manual inspection methods relying on industrial climbers are risky, time-consuming, and expensive. This is where drone technology steps in, offering a game-changing solution for offshore wind turbine inspections.<h2>Safety First: Reducing Worker Risk</h2>Inspecting offshore wind turbines exposes workers to many dangers. From falls from heights and electrical shock to the perils of working in confined spaces, the risks are considerable. With ever-increasing turbine heights, like GE's Haliade-X reaching a staggering 850 feet, these hazards become even more pronounced.Drone solutions can solve these challenges in a transformative way. By eliminating the need for human climbers, drones significantly enhance safety and reduce the risk of accidents. Additionally, drones can conduct inspections more frequently, enabling the early detection of potential issues and preventing costly downtime through more regular inspections.<h2>Enhanced Efficiency: Faster, More Cost-effective Inspections</h2>Time is money, especially in the offshore wind industry. Traditional inspections take hours, impacting turbine operations and productivity. Drones significantly reduce inspection time. Studies suggest a potential 80% reduction in inspection time compared to manual methods, leading to substantial cost savings.Furthermore, drones offer a more comprehensive inspection approach. They can reach previously inaccessible areas and provide detailed, high-resolution images for thorough analysis. This allows for the identification of even minor defects before they become major problems, preventing costly downtime and repairs.<h2>Technological Advancements: A Look at the Cutting Edge</h2><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1729194076738-1729194076738.png" alt="1turbine8923475 copy" class="fr-fic fr-dii">Drone technology constantly evolves, offering advanced solutions for wind turbine inspections. Here are some key areas of progress:<ul><li>Mobile Thermography: These drones use thermal imaging sensors to detect variations in heat flow across turbine blades. Areas with structural defects will show up as cooler spots, allowing for early detection of damage before it becomes critical.</li><li>Lidar Inspections: Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) technology provides visual inspections using high-resolution, 3D images of the turbine blades. While these inspections require slower, closer flybys, advancements in battery technology increases flight time, allowing drones to complete inspections of all blades without a recharge.</li></ul>However, the offshore wind industry has recently faced challenges. Stakeholders have expressed concerns over a high rate of project cancellations following significant cost increases. Despite these setbacks, the long-term potential of offshore wind remains substantial, and the industry is actively seeking innovative solutions to overcome these hurdles.Drones play a crucial role in addressing these challenges by optimizing operations and reducing costs. By collecting vast amounts of data, drones enable predictive maintenance strategies, allowing operators to schedule maintenance proactively, allocate resources efficiently, and extend turbine lifespan.Learn more about <a href="https://www.macrofab.com/blog/drone-pcba-tackling-sensor-integration/" target="_blank">sensor integration in drones</a> now.<h2>Data-Driven Decisions: Empowering Predictive Maintenance</h2>Drones collect a wealth of valuable data during inspections. High-resolution images, thermal readings, and 3D point cloud data from Lidar scans can be analyzed using sophisticated software. This data allows for the creation of digital twins – virtual replicas of the turbines – that can be used to predict potential problems before they occur.Predictive maintenance, enabled by drone data, empowers wind farm operators to:<ul><li>Schedule maintenance proactively: Instead of waiting for a turbine to fail, inspections can be targeted based on the collected data, optimizing maintenance schedules and reducing downtime.</li><li>Optimize resource allocation: By identifying specific areas of concern, resources can be directed efficiently, reducing overall maintenance costs.</li><li>Extend turbine lifespan: Early detection and repair of minor issues can prevent them from escalating into major problems, ultimately extending the turbine’s lifespan.</li></ul><h2>A Collaborative Approach: Humans and Drones Working Together</h2><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1729194076496-1729194076496.png" alt="2turbine498yhud copy" class="fr-fic fr-dii">While drones offer significant advantages, they cannot replace human expertise completely. A successful drone inspection program thrives on a collaborative approach:<ul><li>Skilled Drone Pilots: Experienced pilots are essential for safe and efficient operation in challenging offshore environments. Their expertise in navigating wind conditions and maneuvering around turbines ensures the integrity of the data collected.</li><li>Data Analysts: The vast amount of data collected by drones requires skilled data analysts. These professionals interpret the data, identify trends, and generate actionable insights for wind farm operators.</li><li>Maintenance Crews: Once potential issues arise, human technicians remain vital for repairs and maintenance activities. Drones provide the initial assessment, but human expertise is crucial for addressing the identified problems.</li></ul>This collaborative approach leverages the strengths of both humans and machines. Drones handle the high-risk and repetitive aspects of inspections, while human expertise focuses on analysis, decision-making, and the complex tasks requiring manual intervention.<h2>Challenges and Considerations</h2>While drone technology offers immense benefits, there are still challenges to overcome. High winds significantly impact drone maneuverability and control, requiring experienced operators familiar with the specific challenges of flying around wind turbines. Salt spray from the ocean also affects drone components, making regular maintenance crucial.Successful drone inspection programs emphasize careful planning and preparation. Autonomous flight capabilities minimize operator error and allow for precise control, especially in challenging weather conditions.<h2>The Role of PCBAs in Drone Technology</h2><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1729194076109-1729194076109.png" alt="3turbine98tuo copy" class="fr-fic fr-dii">The widespread adoption of drones for offshore wind turbine inspections underscores the critical role of <a href="https://www.macrofab.com/pcba/" target="_blank">Printed Circuit Board Assemblies (PCBAs)</a> in this rapidly growing industry. PCBAs serve as the "brain" of drones, integrating essential components like sensors, processors, and communication systems. These intricate boards enable drones to navigate complex environments, capture high-resolution images, and transmit data efficiently.As drone technology advances, the demand for more sophisticated PCBAs increases. Features such as enhanced processing power, miniaturization, and improved durability are essential for meeting the rigorous demands of offshore wind turbine inspections. Reliable and high-performance PCBAs are crucial for ensuring safe and efficient drone operation, ultimately contributing to the success of the offshore wind industry.<h2>The Future of Offshore Wind: A Symbiosis of Man and Machine</h2>The synergy between drones and advanced PCBAs is driving innovation in offshore wind turbine inspections. As the industry continues to expand, the development of cutting-edge PCBAs will be instrumental in maximizing the potential of drone technology and accelerating the transition to a clean energy future.</section><h4>Need high-quality PCBAs for your next drone build?</h4><a href="https://factory.macrofab.com/quick_quote/?utm_source=direct&utm_medium=none" target="_blank">Get an instant quote now</a><section><h5> </h5></section>

Learn how reliable and high-performance PCBAs are crucial for ensuring safe and efficient drone operation, ultimately contributing to the success of the offshore wind industry.

How Drones are Transforming Offshore Wind Turbine Inspections

<h2 dir="ltr" id="isPasted">What Is An Industrial Electrical Energy Audit?</h2>An industrial electrical energy audit will analyse your facility and its energy usage patterns to pinpoint areas of excess use and wasted energy. It will then use this analysis to improve your energy efficiency by upgrading systems and cutting operating costs. If you’re concerned about your operation’s carbon footprint, it will help to create a healthier and more energy-efficient working environment. &nbsp; &nbsp;In the UK, energy audits are governed by the British Standard&nbsp;<a title="BS EN " href="https://knowledge.bsigroup.com/products/energy-audits-general-requirements-1?version=tracked&tab=overview" target="_blank">BS EN 16247 (2022)</a>. This is divided into four parts, the first of which relates to the general requirements of all energy audits. The subsequent parts outline the specific energy audit requirements in the categories of buildings of various types, industrial processes and related transport. In most industrial facilities, an electrical energy audit will require an assessment of all three of these primary areas.&nbsp;<h2 dir="ltr">How To Implement Your Industrial Energy Audit</h2>First, a competent auditor will conduct a simple walk-through analysis, assessing the most obvious energy-saving alternatives to present consumption practices, such as replacing light fixtures or fine-tuning temperature controls.&nbsp;The next step is a more comprehensive energy consumption analysis of your facility, which will audit each major area of operating equipment and systems. It will assess the relative cost-efficiency of existing processes and propose energy-saving measures, including an estimate of the costs to implement them. It might include replacing environmental management systems like heating and cooling, or more technologically advanced process equipment.Replacing capital-intensive equipment and systems requires the most detailed level of industrial energy audit. It will probably rely on data-driven information collected from your existing devices,&nbsp;<a title="Big-Data Analysis" href="https://www.rowse.co.uk/blog/post/how-big-data-is-being-used-in-manufacturing" target="_blank">big-data analysis</a> and possibly computer-based simulations. It will help you make more serious investment decisions involving capital-intensive projects like retrofitting your building insulation infrastructure.<h2 dir="ltr">How Long Will It Take To Implement An Industrial Electrical Energy Audit?</h2>An audit could take from a few hours to several days, according to the type of operation you’re running and its equipment. Contributory factors include the size and complexity of your premises, how easy it is to access the relevant areas for assessment and how much detail you want to go into. The manual inspection and measurement method is more time-consuming and often a better choice for smaller and simpler operations.&nbsp;For larger and more complex operations, you’ll probably opt for a more tech-based audit. This means using specialised software and automation tools for data collection and analysis. Areas of energy wastage will be identified, as well as possible fixes to cut your energy spend. If you don’t have competent personnel with the skills to leverage these tools, it will also mean employing a third-party agent or service.&nbsp;<h2 dir="ltr">How To Conduct A Successful Energy Audit</h2>These are some of the steps involved in implementing an effective industrial electrical energy audit:<img data-fr-image-pasted="true" src="https://v3.rowse.co.uk/static/images/blog/posts/rjPFQ9pzdWEQclAz.jpg" alt="Electrical Audit" class="fr-fic fr-dii"><h3 dir="ltr">1. Documentation</h3>As a first step, you should collect together any relevant documentation for the premises, equipment and occupants. This includes up to three years' worth of energy bills, utility rates and staffing levels, plus building plans, maintenance histories and equipment manuals. This will give you an overview of your past and current energy consumption, based on levels of activity and energy costs.<h3 dir="ltr">2. Walk-Through Analysis</h3>This is essentially a visual inspection and measurement of all your facility's systems. It will include meter readings and performance statistics of machinery, lighting, insulation, building structure, etc. This will indicate what scope you have for optimisation.<h3 dir="ltr">3. Energy Usage Analysis</h3>Using your documentation and perhaps some energy management software, you can collate all the relevant data for analysis of your current energy usage patterns.<h3 dir="ltr">4. Identify And Evaluate Optimisations</h3>Combining the above steps will show you the potential for reducing your energy consumption. Leveraging data analytics will enable deeper and more actionable insights and provide a cost analysis of potential energy-saving measures. You can then evaluate what capital investment would be required, the probable ROI for each measure and the potential energy savings.<h3 dir="ltr">5. Prioritise And Plan</h3>Use your calculations of the possible optimisation costs to rank the importance of individual energy conservation measures, so you can determine what needs immediate attention and what can be implemented at a later date. You can then use this list to develop a detailed implementation plan, including the processes involved, costs and timelines.<h3 dir="ltr">6. Implementation</h3>By now, you should have a detailed and actionable report containing all your findings and recommended optimisations. Once you’ve put them into practice, you should set up a tracking and review process to measure their efficiency. Conduct a progress review at least twice a year and revise it when necessary.<h2 dir="ltr">How Will My Business Benefit?</h2>Your business will benefit in many ways from implementing electrical energy audits. You’ll be more aware of how each part of your operation contributes to your overall energy consumption and how something as simple as fixing a leak in your heating/cooling system offers considerable savings. You can trace your energy consumption and costs through your documentation to help you make better-informed decisions.You’ll be able to identify ways of reducing your energy consumption with no compromise to your productivity, such as switching to&nbsp;<a title="Variable-Speed Drives" href="https://www.rowse-automation.co.uk/blog/post/what-is-a-variable-speed-drive-and-how-does-it-work" target="_blank">variable-speed drives</a> or high-efficiency compressors. Upgrading your facility’s infrastructure to create a more energy-efficient operation will also add value to your property and improve your brand positioning. Transparently working towards net zero goals and reporting on your environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance demonstrates your proactive energy outlook. This will enhance your fundraising opportunities and have a direct impact on stock values.By complying with energy standards and regulations you will avoid the risk of fines. For example, the government’s&nbsp;<a title="Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme" href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/energy-savings-opportunity-scheme-esos" target="_blank">Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme</a> carries significant penalties for non-compliance. However, if you are able to take advantage of this scheme, it will help you carry out your energy audit and achieve cost savings as you work towards net zero. An industrial electrical energy audit can identify the necessary upgrades and investments you’ll need on the journey towards renewable energy.

An industrial electrical energy audit is designed to find ways of optimising your energy usage. It will evaluate the energy levels currently being used at your facility, identify any inefficiencies and suggest where reductions can be made. 

How To Implement Industrial Electrical Energy Audits

Alongside the utilization of renewable energy, the utilization of hydrogen energy plays an important role (Fig. 1).<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1727663321220-hydrogen-img0001.jpg" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Fig. 1: Preparations to expand the utilization of hydrogen energy are proceeding apace.Opportunities for consumers to encounter the utilization of hydrogen are pretty much limited to the occasional glimpse of a fuel cell vehicle (FCV) or fuel cell bus. Nevertheless, hydrogen has become an indispensable part of decarbonization efforts by industry as a high-output power source or heat source for turbines, engines, boilers, and the like. In the mobility area, decarbonization efforts have centered around the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) as passenger cars, but the use of hydrogen has assumed a key role in studies of the future of large commercial vehicles such as buses or trucks that must operate over long distances; agricultural machinery, construction equipment, and aircraft (including drones); and ships.For this reason, a variety of policies and projects intended to expand the scenarios in which hydrogen is utilized are proceeding in many countries and regions throughout the world.<h2>Upgrading the Sophistication of the Electrical and Electronic Systems Tasked with Expanding, Managing, and Controlling Hydrogen Utilization is Key</h2>Broadly speaking, hydrogen energy is expected to be utilized in two ways.The first is the direct use of heat energy obtained by burning hydrogen. Development of technology to enable use of hydrogen as a fuel to power turbines, engines, boilers, etc., safely and efficiently is already underway. This first approach is suitable for applications where comparatively large output is required.The second is the use of fuel cells to convert the chemical energy of hydrogen into electric power. The chemical reaction involved is the opposite of that underlying the electrolysis of water, familiar from demonstrations in science class at school. Hydrogen and oxygen from the atmosphere are converted into water and electricity. This approach tends to be suitable for applications that use comparatively low output. The practical limits are such that the output of a single fuel cell can be used as the power source for a vehicle such as a bus. In addition, when hydrogen is converted to electric power for use, controlling the output is easier than when hydrogen is burned, so the second approach is also used for applications where precise drive control is required.In order to utilize hydrogen in an effective, efficient, and stable manner, and to enable its adoption in a diverse range of usage scenarios, the electrical and electronic systems that manage and control the appropriate utilization of hydrogen must interoperate with each other. For example, ancillary to the equipment involved in the production, storage, distribution, and use of hydrogen are components such as stabilized power supplies, power converters, sensors, and noise suppression circuits. Also, these technologies need to become more sophisticated as the utilization of hydrogen expands.<h2>Renewable Energy and Hydrogen Energy are Complementary</h2>Hydrogen used as a source of energy is divided into three types based on how it is produced (Fig. 2), although the chemical composition of the different types is the same. These are "gray hydrogen," "blue hydrogen," and "green hydrogen." Each contributes to decarbonization to a different degree.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1727663346670-hydrogen-img0002_en.jpg" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Fig. 2: Methods of producing the three types of hydrogenThe raw materials for the production of gray hydrogen are fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas. Hydrogen can also be obtained as a byproduct of petroleum refining or the production of coke in a steelworks. It can also be produced through reforming by chemical or heat processing. A familiar example would be home fuel cells (ENE-FARM systems), which use gray hydrogen produced from city gas. However, since the production of gray hydrogen generates CO2, it cannot be said to contribute to decarbonization directly. By contrast, blue hydrogen is made in a way that ensures that the CO2 generated in its production is not released into the atmosphere. The systems used to produce it include mechanisms to recover, store, and use the CO2 generated. This reduces CO2 emissions, but the recovery, storage, and use of the CO2 bring with them corresponding costs.On the other hand, green hydrogen is produced from water by electrolysis, employing renewable energy such as sunlight or wind power as the source of the electricity used. With green hydrogen, CO2 emissions can be reduced to zero. In addition, since power generation methods such as solar are unstable means of generating electricity, they are suitable for applications that require storing surplus power for use later when it is needed. Large-capacity energy storage systems (ESS) employing batteries are also used for such applications, but green hydrogen is seen as suitable for use as an emergency power supply for cases requiring large storage capacity, factories, data centers, and the like.It can be said that renewable energy and hydrogen energy are complementary. Against this background, the governments of many countries and regions are moving forward with policies and projects intended to promote the utilization of green hydrogen. For example, the European Commission and the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance, a group of hydrogen-related businesses within the EU, announced on May 5, 2022, a plan to increase the green hydrogen production capacity of electrolysis businesses to 10 times the current level by 2025.<h2>How the Electronics Industry Can Contribute to Hydrogen Utilization</h2>There are many ways in which electrical and electronic technology can help boost the utilization of hydrogen.First, to increase efficiency when producing green hydrogen, DC power supplies are needed because of their high power efficiency. Only a low level of power, 1.23 V or more, is required to perform electrolysis of water. However, to produce green hydrogen in large volumes by making use of power from high-output renewable energy facilities such as Mega Solar power projects, DC power supplies capable of delivering high-voltage, high-amperage DC power consistently, without pulsations, to a large number of electrolysis electrodes connected in series and in parallel are necessary.Such technology has been developed, using as a basis existing DC power technology from manufacturing and industrial fields including surface processing such as metal plating and the production of chemicals such as caustic soda. Most hydrogen production facilities currently use DC power supplies at voltages from several volts to several hundred volts and amperages from 10 amperes to several thousand amperes.The scale of these facilities varies, but it ranges from low capacity for on-site compact hydrogen stations to large capacity for megawatt-grade hydrogen production plants. Demand is rising for DC power supplies at a range of capacity levels. Of these, many of the large-capacity systems connect to the AC power grid, and this necessitates measures to minimize the effects of harmonics on the power lines. In addition, to generate stabilized DC power more efficiently, power circuit configurations incorporating high-performance power semiconductor devices such as IGBTs or SiC-based MOSFETs are being considered.Furthermore, after hydrogen energy is converted to electric power by a fuel cell, to use it requires a power converter to turn it into DC or AC power, to match the purpose for which the output will be used, and to supply it in a stable manner. In addition, management and control systems are needed to monitor the series of processes from power generation by the fuel cell to its consumption by motors, etc., and for safety control to prevent problems such as hydrogen gas leaks, short circuits, or thermal runaway. This requires a large number of sensors for detecting gas, pressure, flow, etc.<h2>Downsizing Equipment Utilizing Hydrogen to Make It a More Familiar Energy Source</h2>The utilization of hydrogen got its start from applications requiring relatively high output, and its adoption is now spreading. Nevertheless, once technology matures for generating green hydrogen, making fuel cells more efficient, and reducing cost, we can expect to see the downsizing of utilization systems, and it will become possible to use hydrogen as an energy source for devices requiring lower output.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1727663379520-hydrogen-img0003.jpg" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Fig. 3: The hydrogen supply chain consumes a lot of energy, so we need to aim for local production for local consumption where possible.Generally speaking, if hydrogen is produced in large quantities at power plants in regions outside of large cities and then shipped to where it will be consumed, a large amount of energy is lost during the transport process. This is because it is necessary to compress the generated hydrogen gas and then refrigerate it to liquid form. There are other shipping methods that involve converting hydrogen into chemicals that are easier to transport, but these applications also consume a commensurate amount of energy. For these reasons, enabling the local production for local consumption of hydrogen where possible is a better way to increase usage efficiency.Already, hydrogen stations much like conventional gas stations have been set up here and there, and efforts are moving forward to realize the concept of local production of hydrogen and its supply as fuel for various types of mobility applications. One example of such an attempt is the commercialization of a portable fuel cell that can be used as a mobile battery to charge devices such as smartphones. The development and decentralized placement of compact hydrogen generation equipment based on photocatalyst technology that uses sunlight to perform photolysis of water is also being considered.Hydrogen complements renewable energy as an energy source that is indispensable to achieving carbon neutrality. However, appropriate measures need to be taken to make it possible for consumers to utilize hydrogen gas safely in familiar settings. For safe and highly efficient utilization to become possible, safety standards and legislation must be put in place, while at the same time the utilization of electrical and electronic technology, including management and control systems making use of sensors of various types, high-efficiency DC power supplies, and power converter circuits, must become more sophisticated. Accordingly, there are high expectations for the development and proposal of new technologies by companies involved with electronics.

Development of technology to enable use of hydrogen as a fuel to power turbines, engines, boilers, etc., safely and efficiently is already underway. This first approach is suitable for applications where comparatively large output is required.

Expediting Infrastructure Development for Fuel Cells and Electrolysis to Enhance Hydrogen Energy Use.

Photovoltaics are set to meet over 40 percent of Switzerland’s electricity needs by 2050. But solar power isn’t always available when it’s needed: there’s too much of it in summer and too little in winter, when the sun shines less often and heat pumps are running at full tilt. According to the Swiss federal government’s Energy Strategy, Switzerland wants to close the winter electricity gap with a combination of imports, wind and hydropower as well as alpine solar plants and gas-fired power plants.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1725320869826-image.imageformat.carousel.940179852.jpg" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">ETH researchers Samuel Heiniger (left, with a jar of iron ore) and Professor Wendelin Stark in front of the three iron reactors on ETH Zurich’s Hönggerberg campus. (Image: ETH Zurich)One way to minimise the need for imports and gas-fired power plants in winter is to produce hydrogen from cheap solar power in summer, which could then be converted into electricity in winter. However, hydrogen is highly flammable, extremely volatile and makes many materials brittle. Storing the gas from summer until winter calls for special pressurised containers and cooling technology. These require a lot of energy, while the many safety precautions that must be followed make building such storage facilities very expensive. What’s more, hydrogen tanks are never completely leak-proof, which harms the environment and adds to the costs.Now researchers at ETH Zurich led by Wendelin Stark, Professor of Functional Materials at the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, have developed a new technology for the seasonal storage of hydrogen that is much safer and cheaper than existing solutions. The researchers are using a well-known technology and the fourth most abundant element on Earth: iron.<h2>Chemical storage</h2>To store hydrogen better, Stark and his team are relying on the steam-iron process, which has been understood since the 19th century. If there is a surplus of solar power available in the summer months, it can be used to split water to produce hydrogen. This hydrogen is then fed into a stainless steel reactor filled with natural iron ore at 400 degrees Celsius. There, the hydrogen extracts the oxygen from the iron ore – which in chemical terms is simply iron oxide – resulting in elemental iron and water.“This chemical process is similar to charging a battery. &nbsp;It means that the energy in the hydrogen can be stored as iron and water for long periods with almost no losses,” Stark says. When the energy is needed again in winter, the researchers reverse the process: they feed hot steam into the reactor to turn the iron and water back into iron oxide and hydrogen. The hydrogen can then be converted into electricity or heat in a gas turbine or fuel cell. To keep the energy required for the discharging process to a minimum, the steam is generated using waste heat from the discharging reaction.<a target="_blank"></a><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1725320890968-image.imageformat.1286.408338324.png" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">The charging and discharging process for the storage technology. (Visualisations: ETH Zurich)<h2 id="isPasted">Cheap iron ore meets expensive hydrogen</h2>“The big advantage of this technology is that the raw material, iron ore, is easy to procure in large quantities. Plus it doesn’t even need processing before we put it in the reactor,” Stark says. Moreover, the researchers assume that large iron ore storage facilities could be built worldwide without substantially influencing the global market price of iron.The reactor in which the reaction takes place doesn’t have to fulfil any special safety requirements either. It consists of stainless steel walls just 6 millimetres thick. The reaction takes place at normal pressure and the storage capacity increases with each cycle. Once filled with iron oxide, the reactor can be reused for any number of storage cycles without having to replace its contents. Another advantage of the technology is that the researchers can easily expand the storage capacity. It’s simply a case of building bigger reactors and filling them with more iron ore. All these advantages make this storage technology an estimated ten times cheaper than existing methods.However, there’s also a downside to using hydrogen: its production and conversion are inefficient compared to other sources of energy, as up to 60 percent of its energy is lost in the process. This means that as a storage medium, hydrogen is most attractive when sufficient wind or solar power is available and other options are off the table. That is especially the case with industrial processes that can’t be electrified.<h2>Pilot plant on the Hönggerberg campus</h2>The researchers have demonstrated the technical feasibility of their storage technology using a pilot plant on the Hönggerberg campus. This consists of three stainless steel reactors with a capacity of 1.4 cubic metres, each of which the researchers have filled with 2–3 tonnes of untreated iron ore available on the market.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1725320913294-image.imageformat.1286.858633795.jpg" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">This 1.4-cubic-metre stainless steel reactor at the Hönggerberg campus holds 2–3 tonnes of untreated iron ore. (Image: ETH Zurich)“The pilot plant can store around 10 megawatt hours of hydrogen over long periods. Depending on how you convert the hydrogen into electricity, that’ll give you somewhere between 4 and 6 megawatt hours of power,” explains Samuel Heiniger, a doctoral student in Stark’s research group. This corresponds to the electricity demand from three to five Swiss single-family homes in the winter months. At present, the system is still running on electricity from the grid and not on the solar power generated on the Hönggerberg campus.This is soon set to change: the researchers want to expand the system such that by 2026, the ETH Hönggerberg campus can meet one-fifth of its winter electricity requirements using its own solar power from the summer. This would require reactors with a volume of 2,000 cubic metres, which could store around 4 gigawatt hours (GWh) of green hydrogen. Once converted into electricity, the stored hydrogen would supply around 2 GWh of power. “This plant could replace a small reservoir in the Alps as a seasonal energy storage facility. To put that in perspective, it equates to around one-tenth of the capacity of the Nant de Drance pumped storage power plant,” Stark says. In addition, the discharging process would generate 2 GWh of heat, which the researchers want to integrate into the campus’s heating system.<h2 id="isPasted">Good scalability</h2>But could this technology be harnessed to provide seasonal energy storage for Switzerland as a whole? The researchers have made some initial calculations: providing Switzerland with around 10 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity from seasonal hydrogen storage systems every year in the future – which would admittedly be a lot – would require some 15–20 TWh of green hydrogen and roughly 10,000,000 cubic metres of iron ore. “That’s about 2 percent of what Australia, the largest producer of iron ore, mines every year,” Stark says. By way of comparison, in its <a target="_blank">Energy Perspectives 2050+</a>, the Swiss Federal Office of Energy anticipates total electricity consumption of around 84 TWh in 2050.If reactors were built that could store around 1 GWh of electricity each, they would have a volume of roughly 1,000 cubic metres. This calls for around 100 square metres of building land. Switzerland would have to build some 10,000 of these storage systems to obtain 10 TWh of electricity in winter, which corresponds to an area of around 1 square metre per inhabitant.<hr><h2 id="isPasted">Coalition for Green Energy and Storage (CGES)</h2>This project is part of the <a href="https://ethz.ch/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2023/06/eth-zurich-and-epfl-launch-a-green-energy-coalition.html" target="_blank">Coalition for Green Energy and Storage</a>, which ETH Zurich launched in 2023 together with EPFL, PSI and Empa and is driving forward together with industrial partners - including major Swiss energy suppliers and authorities. The coalition has set itself the goal of rapidly bringing innovative technologies for the production and storage of carbon-neutral gases and fuels and for CO2 capture to market maturity. As part of CGES, larger pilot plants (‘catapults’) are to be built to test these technologies and make important contributions to the climate-neutral transformation of the energy system and security of supply. The next step will be to establish an association that will network interested stakeholders, provide them with scientific support and guidance and facilitate the implementation of projects.<h2 id="isPasted">Reference</h2>Literature: Heiniger, SP; Fan Z; Lustenberger UB, Stark WJ: Safe seasonal energy and hydrogen storage in a 1 : 10 single-household-sized pilot reactor based on the steam-iron process. Sustainable Energy &amp; Fuels 2024, 8 (1), 125-132. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1039/D3SE01228J" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1039/D3SE01228J</a>

Researchers at ETH Zurich are using iron to store hydrogen safely and for long periods. In the future, this technology could be used for seasonal energy storage.

Iron as an inexpensive storage medium for hydrogen

The effective utilization of renewable energies such as solar and wind power is an essential element to achieve carbon neutrality. According to the <a href="https://kpmg.com/xx/en/home/insights/2023/06/statistical-review-of-world-energy-2023.html" target="_blank">Statistical Review of World Energy 2023</a> report published by the Energy Institute in the U.K., renewable energies including hydropower already account for approximately 30% of the world's power supplies. The total amount of that renewable energy is 8,539 TWh. This means it has grown more than four times the 2,058 TWh that it was in 1985.When it comes to ways to fully utilize renewable energy, many people may think of large-scale power generation in places brimming with natural energy. Examples of that include solar power generation in vast places like deserts or grasslands and wind power generation on the sea. However, there are forms of renewable energy even in the middle of any big city. In fact, efforts are being proactively promoted to introduce power generation with renewable energy in urban areas. In Japan, for instance, solar panels are being installed on the rooftops of buildings and the roofs of houses. The amount of power these solar panels generate is small. This means they are being positioned as auxiliary power supplies. Nevertheless, they are being effectively utilized. Moreover, new efforts are underway to also develop and introduce solar power generation technologies on the walls and in the windows of buildings and technologies that generate power using the vibrations that come from people walking.Looking at the situation from a global perspective, many small and medium-sized cities are striving to achieve local production for local consumption in which the power consumed locally is supplied by utilizing wind power, solar power, hydropower, and other forms of renewable energy in that locality. Furthermore, an increasing number of companies are also participating in RE100. RE100 is an international initiative the aim of which is for companies to supply the power they use in their businesses with 100% renewable energy. These companies are proactively introducing power generation equipment into their factories and other facilities to generate as much power as possible on their own (Fig. 1).<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1725259865043-microgrid-img0001.jpg" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Fig. 1: An increasing number of companies are participating in RE100 and promoting power generation on their own with renewable energy (Left: Kanazu Murata Manufacturing Clean Energy Park / Right: Carport solar panels capable of dealing with fallen snow)<h2 id="isPasted">Microgrids: Supporting the Local Production for Local Consumption of Renewable Energy</h2>We can call efforts to achieve local production for local consumption by converting renewable energy into power an extremely effective means of utilizing energy. This is because it is possible to minimize the power loss that always occurs in power systems during the transmission and distribution of that power.Large-scale power plants are located far from cities where a large amount of power is consumed in current power systems. The power generated in those power plants is transmitted and distributed to the areas where it is consumed to be utilized in daily life and socio-economic activities. However, approximately 30% of the power generated in the power plants is wastefully lost in the process up to its use via the power transmission and distribution network (also known as the grid). This is because a large amount of power is dissipated as heat or electromagnetic waves due to power lines and power converter loads. The shorter the distance of power transmission and distribution, the fewer times the power is converted, making it possible to reduce power loss. Therefore, we can minimize the occurrence of power loss by achieving local production for local consumption using the natural energy all around us as a distributed power supply.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1725259887421-microgrid-img0002_en.jpg" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Fig. 2: Microgrid configuration and method of usage during normal times and emergenciesSource: <a href="https://www.meti.go.jp/shingikai/energy_environment/energy_resource/pdf/015_s01_00.pdf" target="_blank" data-lf-fd-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true">Materials from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's (a Japanese administrative agency) 4th Information Liaison Committee on the Introduction of Sustainable Renewable Energy in Local Communities</a>*This linked page is in Japanese.A small-scale power network aiming to achieve local production for local consumption of power is called a microgrid (Fig. 2). In addition to effectively utilizing renewable energy, microgrids have other benefits, as they are distributed power systems. For example, microgrids are capable of stably supplying power to communities even in the event of a large-scale power outage during an emergency such as a disaster. This allows us to maintain our daily life and business activities.<h2>Major Prerequisite of Operating Power Systems: Balancing Principle</h2>The concept of microgrids is simple. However, realizing microgrids is not that easy. This is because there is a major principle to the building and operating of power systems called the "balancing principle."The balancing principle is the rule that the amount of power supplied from a power plant must always match the amount of demand for power no matter what the power system. If we operate a power system in violation of this principle, the voltage of the power will become unstable and the equipment may fail, leading to a large-scale power outage.However, power derived from renewable energy like solar power is produced from unstable natural phenomena. Accordingly, we cannot conveniently adjust the amount of power generated. Therefore, it is difficult to supply the power we use and to fully use it with only power generated in the community. This means it is necessary to employ a mechanism that accommodates for surpluses and deficiencies with advanced operation and management like the fine adjustment of the balance in supply and demand in the community or the utilization of a large energy storage system (ESS).<h2>Smart Grids: Major Prerequisite for the Realization of Microgrids</h2>The means to solving this issue is a very similar concept to the microgrid called a "smart grid." A smart grid is a mechanism that automatically controls the necessary power so it can be supplied without surpluses or deficiencies by utilizing smart meters and other telecommunications devices to visualize in real time power demand in each individual household, business establishment, or other facility.Microgrids and smart grids are different concepts. Nevertheless, it is difficult to realize a microgrid that achieves local production for local consumption of power efficiently and effectively without introducing a smart grid mechanism. Smart grids grasp in real time and in detail the amount of power generated in distributed renewable energy power generation facilities and the amount of power consumed in daily life and business to achieve a balance between both while managing the charging and discharging of multiple distributed ESSs. If there is a deficiency in the power generated with just the charging and discharging permissible values of the installed ESSs, smart grids procure and release power from the wider grid to preserve the balance.The technology that uses IoT technology to control the amount of power supplied as if the multiple pieces of power generation equipment and ESSs in a microgrid were one power plant is called a "virtual power plant (VPP)." Meanwhile, smart meters are used to grasp in real time the power consumption situation in households and business establishments. Looking at the situation globally, smart meters are rapidly spreading. Smart meters began to be installed in households in 2014 in the greater Tokyo Metropolitan area in Japan. Installation was completed in almost all households and business establishments by the end of FY2020. The installation of smart meters across Japan is scheduled to be completed by the end of FY2024. In other words, we can say that the groundwork to promote the building of microgrids is steadily being laid.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1725259914808-microgrid-img0003.jpg" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Fig. 3: The spread of smart meters is a major prerequisite to smart grids and microgrids<h2 id="isPasted">DC Power Transmission and Distribution Systems Aiming for Further Improvements in Efficiency</h2>Attempts are also being advanced to further raise the energy utilization rate with microgrids. Currently, technological development is underway to introduce a new power transmission and distribution network called a "DC microgrid." This DC microgrid will transmit and distribute DC power instead of the AC power used for commercial power supplies.DC power supplies such as solar batteries and storage batteries are often used on the power supply side of microgrids. On the other hand, looking at the power consumption side, telecommunications devices made using semiconductors and electronic components and energy-saving electronic goods made using inverters operate on DC power. This means both sides handle DC power.Currently, however, AC power is being transmitted and distributed, so it is necessary to convert the power both when it is transmitted and when it is used. Power loss occurs at that time. DC microgrids are a technology aiming to minimize this waste. It is envisioned that DC buses of about 400 V will be laid in place of conventional AC 200 V / 100 V power lines and that high-voltage commercial grids will operate by being connected via a bidirectional AC/DC converter. In addition to microgrids, DC power transmission systems are being used to transmit power over long distances. There are already examples of this technology being put to practical use in Europe and America.The building and operation of microgrids will no doubt progress at the same time as there is an expansion in the usage settings of renewable energy. It is expected that demand will further increase for even more highly efficient and flexible microgrids that can handle various usage settings and the electronic components that support the building of those microgrids.<hr><h2 id="isPasted">Other Links</h2><ul><li><a href="https://corporate.murata.com/en-eu/csr/environment_murata/climate_change?intcid1=mar_art_xxx_tao_xxx_tao-link" target="_blank">Reinforcement of climate change countermeasures</a></li><li><a href="https://www.murata.com/en-eu/apps/industry/smartgrid/smartmeter?intcid1=mar_art_xxx_tao_xxx_tao-link" target="_blank">"Smart meter" application guide</a></li></ul>

Supporting the Transition away from Fossil Fuels with the Power of Electronic Components

Microgrids: Promoting Local Production for Local Consumption of Renewable Energy

Energy demands are at an all-time high, as is the need to be environmentally conscious. That’s why chemical engineering professors Drs. Joseph Kwon and Mark Barteau have developed a strategy to predict the performance of new catalysts for greener ammonia production. &nbsp;“By making industrial processes like ammonia production more sustainable, this research contributes to broader efforts to combat climate change, promoting a healthier planet for future generations,” Kwon said.&nbsp;Changing how ammonia is produced has environmental and economic benefits and enhances food security. This can be achieved by lowering the energy requirements and carbon emissions associated with traditional ammonia production.&nbsp;It is estimated that 1 to 2% of global energy consumption, and a similar fraction of man-made greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, are associated with the production of ammonia for fertilizer.&nbsp;Ammonia is produced by the Haber-Bosch process, a century-old technology that uses atmospheric nitrogen and hydrogen to produce ammonia. The hydrogen is typically generated from methane via a process that generates a large GHG footprint.According to Kwon and Barteau, their research focuses on a greener alternative to the Haber-Bosch process. They are developing electrocatalysts for the electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction, called NRR, using the hydrogen atoms in water.“The goal is to understand and enhance the interaction of nitrogen and hydrogen on the catalyst surface to efficiently produce ammonia at lower temperatures and pressures,” Kwon said. “To make these catalysts work as we hope, we computationally analyze various materials and their properties to predict which will perform best under NRR conditions.” &nbsp;<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1725000282502-News-CHEN-AmmoniaParticles-13August2024.jpg" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Nitrogen and Hydrogen produce ammonia in a procedure called the Haber-Bosch process, which creates a large GHG footprint. | Image:&nbsp;<cite id="isPasted">Texas A&amp;M Engineering</cite>Kwon and Barteau’s team combines the computational methods of density functional theory (DFT) and kinetic Monte Carlo (kMC) simulations to predict the efficiency and the stability of catalysts under electrochemical reaction conditions.Density functional theory is a modeling method that uses physics, chemistry and materials science to investigate the electronic structure of atoms and molecules. This method allows Kwon to predict how different materials will interact with nitrogen and hydrogen molecules.“Computational tools like DFT and kMC have revolutionized catalyst design in the 21st century,” said Barteau, one of the early practitioners applying DFT to heterogeneous catalysts. “What is particularly powerful about the combination of these tools is the ability to predict the dynamic performance of active materials under different conditions and over time.Kinetic Monte Carlo simulations use probability estimates to predict possible outcomes for an uncertain event. This will help researchers understand how the reactions evolve at different temperatures and pressures, providing insights into the scalability and lifetime of potential catalysts.&nbsp;“We aim to explore new electrocatalyst materials,” Kwon said. “However, employing each method independently can limit the scope of properties regarding materials and reaction processes. This approach allows us to systematically optimize the catalysts before they are even tested in a laboratory, streamlining the development process and paving the way for more sustainable fertilizer production methods.”&nbsp;Kwon also hopes that this research can lead to breakthroughs in catalyst design and a greater understanding of their function at the molecular level. &nbsp;Several key areas that the research focuses on are reducing environmental impact, advancing green chemistry, promoting energy security and catalyzing technological innovation. &nbsp;“This integrated approach not only accelerates the discovery of viable catalysts but also provides a comprehensive understanding of their behavior in real-world conditions, setting the stage for experimental validation and eventual industrial application,” Kwon said.

Drs. Joseph Kwon and Mark Barteau have discovered a way to produce ammonia for fertilizer that is greener and more efficient.

Greener Pastures: Better Ammonia Production for a More Sustainable Future

Research Facility 2.0 (RF 2.0) is an EU-funded research project aimed at making the operation of particle accelerators and other large-scale facilities more resource-efficient. Since the beginning of the year, ten European project partners coordinated by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), have been working on optimized components and digital solutions to reduce the energy consumption of accelerator systems. The European Commission (Horizon Europe program), and the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation are funding the project with a total of EUR 5.6 million over three years. The KITTEN test center at KIT plays a central role in the RF 2.0 project: It hosts researchers that are working on the analysis of important parameters and the development of realistic demonstrators.&nbsp;Particle accelerators not only play an important role in numerous fields of research. Thousands of such accelerators are in use worldwide for industrial and medical applications, for example in material testing or radiotherapy. These high-performance facilities are real energy guzzlers: The annual energy consumption of large plants often amounts to several hundred gigawatt hours (GWh). This compares to the energy consumption of small- or medium-sized European cities. Previous approaches targeted reducing energy consumption and the carbon footprint of particle accelerators or using more sustainable materials, but were limited to specific technical issues. The RF 2.0 project, in contrast, uses a comprehensive approach to making particle accelerators more energy-efficient.&nbsp;<h2>The Objective: Operating Accelerators with Renewable Energies</h2>“We bring expertise in physics and energy technology together. It is our vision to operate particle accelerators safely, stably, and with nothing but renewable energy, to make them as independent as possible from the public power grid and create less impact on the environment,” says Professor Giovanni De Carne from the Institute for Technical Physics at KIT. De Carne is the RF 2.0 project coordinator and initiated the project together with Professor Anke-Susanne Müller, Head of the Institute for Beam Physics and Technology (IBPT) at KIT. A total of ten partners are working together on RF 2.0, including five of the largest particle accelerator facilities in Europe – ALBA Synchrotron (Spain), CERN, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY in Hamburg, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, and MAX IV Laboratory (Sweden) – supported by specialized technology companies.&nbsp;<h2>Realistic Tests with a View to Energy Efficiency and Grid Stability</h2>A key element of the project is the KITTEN test center. The acronym stands for “KIT Testfeld für Energieeffizienz und Netzstabilität in großen Forschungsinfrastrukturen” (KIT test field for energy efficiency and network stability in large-scale research infrastructures). KITTEN integrates the KARA research accelerator and the Energy Lab at KIT. “This infrastructure enables us to create a real-life environment for investigating and testing energy efficiency and network stability in large-scale research infrastructures,” says De Carne. The analysis phase is currently underway. “Particle accelerators always require a very high, constant power supply that must be free from interference. This challenge could not be met in terms of voltage qualities so far due to a lack of flexibility. We use our tests to get a deeper understanding of correlations, create mitigation strategies (i.e. approaches to reduce negative effects and lower the projected costs), analyze the CO2 footprint of the equipment, and create a sustainability matrix.”&nbsp;Building on the results, the elaboration of solutions for more energy-saving technologies with better efficiency is on the agenda. The focus is on four areas: new, highly efficient components; implementation of digital solutions for optimized operating periods, faster start-up and shutdown processes for improved design and operation; integration of low-carbon technologies by using renewable energies and energy storage systems as well as higher energy consumption flexibility through dynamic monitoring and control systems. &nbsp;<h2>More Efficiency Thanks to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Digital Twins </h2>Demonstrator projects conducted in cooperation with the project partners help the research team to test and validate specific approaches under realistic conditions. “For example, we are working on AI-based solutions for more efficient and flexible operation of accelerators. We are further developing a digital twin that will enable us to validate new energy technologies faster in the future,” De Carne explains. One of the projects will tackle the flexibilization of data centers to better accommodate the fluctuation in the yields from renewable energies. Another project is aimed at testing measurement systems that detect disruptions in the grid and enable faster reactions to such fluctuations.“All of these research activities are clearly transfer-oriented,” says De Carne. “The involved technology companies seek to develop market-ready products from the solutions we are working on together.” The range of possible applications is not limited to particle accelerators for research purposes. “Other areas that consume much energy will also benefit from our concepts – be it MRT equipment in hospitals, heavy industry plants for steel and cement production, or data centers that can be operated with more energy efficiency.”<h2>The Next Milestone: KARA Dashboard Makes Results Freely Accessible &nbsp;</h2>Currently, De Carne and his team are developing an open dashboard for the Karlsruhe research accelerator. Its goal is to make the data and results obtained accessible to external researchers and developers in the best possible way. They will not only see the energy consumption of the accelerator and the CO2 footprint in real-time, but also the effects of the alternative solutions tested.&nbsp;

One example of the KIT research on resource-effective technologies for future accelerators is the linear accelerator FLUTE. (Photo: Markus Breig, KIT)

Research Facility 2.0 (RF 2.0) is an EU-funded research project aimed at making the operation of particle accelerators and other large-scale facilities more resource-efficient. 

Project RF 2.0: Research for More Sustainability in Particle Accelerators

Rare earth elements (REEs), including lanthanides, scandium and yttrium, are essential in modern technologies ranging from smartphones and wind turbines to medical imaging and cancer treatment. Though REEs aren’t especially scarce in Earth’s crust – they are more abundant than precious metals like gold and platinum, for example – they are widely dispersed and typically found in low concentrations in natural ores, spurring interest in developing efficient and sustainable methods for their extraction and recovery.<a href="https://engineering.wustl.edu/faculty/Young-Shin-Jun.html" target="_blank">Young-Shin Jun</a>, professor of energy, environmental &amp; chemical engineering in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, received a one-year, $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and $25,000 from WashU’s Consortium for Clean Coal Utilization for her work to extract REEs from coal. With the DOE’s support, Jun plans to develop novel technology to extract, recover and enrich REEs effectively from solid coal-based materials in a way that does not harm the environment. Her work is part of the nation’s broader effort to secure critical resources for green technologies crucial to national energy security and environmental sustainability.Major challenges in resource recovery from solid coal-based materials, including uncombusted coal and fly ash, a fine powder produced from burning coal, arise from the low concentration of desirable elements in these materials. The low concentration and variable presence of REEs in solid coals requires complex and often expensive techniques to extract and purify REEs. These conventional extraction methods use harsh chemicals and generate environmentally damaging waste products.&nbsp;Jun’s project builds on her&nbsp;<a href="https://engineering.wustl.edu/news/2023/Novel-process-extracts-rare-earth-elements-from-waste.html" target="_blank">previous research on harnessing the potential of supercritical fluids</a>, substances at temperatures and pressures above their critical points where they exhibit properties of both liquids and gases, to extract REEs directly from coal fly ashes and uncombusted coal sustainably. By first characterizing the properties and structures of these coal-based materials, Jun plans to develop an innovative supercritical fluid-enabled extraction technology that optimizes the recovery process, enhancing efficiency while reducing waste and energy consumption to minimize environmental impact.“Rare earth elements are vital for the continued health of our nation’s decarbonization energy technology, our economy and our security,” Jun said. “By unlocking the potential of previously overlooked coal-based resources, we can effectively recover valuable elements while providing sustainable solutions for minimizing wastes and external energy inputs. We can also mitigate supply chain vulnerabilities and bolster the resilience of our clean energy infrastructure.”

Coal holds an estimated 50 million metric tons of rare earth elements (REEs), nearly 50% of the global REE content of traditional rare-earth-bearing mineral sources. Depending on market conditions, even partially recovering these REEs can have significant impact on the U.S. economy, supply chain and clean energy infrastructure. (Photo by Anna Evans on Unsplash)

Researcher to develop novel technology to extract, recover and enrich rare earth elements from coal-based resources

Sustainable technology to extract critical materials from coal-based resources

To transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewables – which are intermittent by nature – we’ll need to rework our entire system of power storage, transmission and distribution. Yet experts haven’t yet found the right energy mix or power storage system, or how to balance supply and demand effectively.Decarbonizing our society will mean replacing much of the oil and gas we currently use with electricity. And demand for electricity will only grow as consumers trade out their heating oil for heat pumps and their combustion engine vehicles for electric ones. Wind and solar power will meet a growing share of this demand, while nuclear power is set to be phased out, at least in Switzerland. But there’s one big drawback to electricity: it’s best used right when it’s generated, because storing it for more than short periods is difficult and comes with a relatively high economic, environmental and energy costs. Given the intermittent, variable and decentralized nature of renewable energy, it’s clear why we’ll need to rethink our existing approach to power grids – or the way in which we generate, carry, distribute and manage electrical power.<h2>A matter of timing</h2>“The more we rely on renewables with unpredictable power generation, the more we’ll also need to rely on reserves,” says Mario Paolone, the head of EPFL’s Distributed Electrical Systems Laboratory (DESL). Especially since today, it’s demand that sets the pace. Demand is seen as immutable, and so it’s the supply part of the equation that must be adjusted accordingly. People want to be able to switch on a light, heat up the oven and charge their vehicles at any time of day or night, in the summer or in the winter. As a result, grid operators keep reserves of electricity on hand that can be tapped into at different time intervals. These include a primary reserve deployable in a few minutes, a secondary reserve deployable within 15 minutes and one hour, and a supplemental reserve for periods beyond that. Each type of reserve comes with the appropriate power storage system.Fortunately, Switzerland isn’t alone. Our power grid is connected to the rest of Europe, allowing us to pool resources, storage systems and costs with other countries. “The dream of becoming self-sufficient in terms of our power supply is neither technically nor financially optimal if we limit our view to Switzerland,” says Paolone. “It’s Europe as a whole that needs to become energy independent.”Electrifying our processes and transitioning to renewables will impact power grids in two ways. First, it will change how operators balance the load on their grids and store reserves. “For now, synthesis gas made from renewable energy is the most promising method for storing power and responding to seasonal fluctuations,” says Paolone. Gas-fired power plants can step in to meet excess demand. Operators can also set up power-to-gas systems, which use surplus power to produce clean hydrogen, which in turn is processed to make synthesis gas. “Natural gas companies are really interested in power-to-gas technology because it will let them keep using their existing transmission and distribution infrastructure,” says Mario Paolone. “But for that, engineers will need to develop efficient, large-scale carbon capture systems.”He also points out that “as we decarbonize Switzerland, hydropower will play an important role in providing this kind of flexibility to power grids. It’s the only completely renewable energy source that we can control. That’ll be a crucial advantage going forward.”Hydropower plants provide the flexibility to cover load variations throughout the day or across seasons. Their flexibility depends in part on the type of plant – for instance, whether it’s an impoundment plant (i.e., one that collects precipitation and glacier runoff) or a pumped-storage plant. EPFL recently coordinated the EU’s biggest R&amp;D program on hydropower facilities, called XFLEX Hydro. The program studied small-scale modifications that can be made to hydropower plants to increase their capacity, so as to improve the overall reliability of Europe’s power grids. The technology developed under the program can enhance the ancillary services provided by grid operators – the services that continually match supply with demand – which will help keep local and regional grids reliable and make them resilient to fluctuations in the energy supply, both now and in the future.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1721953932379-e9632e06.jpg" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Illustration © Eric Buche<h2 id="isPasted">Batteries to the rescue</h2>When it comes to intraday load balancing, batteries can be a powerful ally. Paolone believes that lithium batteries will be a key feature in tomorrow’s decarbonized power grids. “They deliver very high yields and can quickly switch between absorbing and injecting electricity,” he says. “These capabilities will be essential for managing primary reserves. In addition, lithium batteries will soon be able to complete tens of thousands of cycles. That’s a huge benefit for grid operators. The power stations they build are intended to last 10 or 20 years, and the technology is starting to be compatible with that time frame.”What’s more, the potential is already out there. “The world’s power grids will need a total battery capacity of around 180 GWh/year by 2035,” says Paolone. “And at roughly the same time, some 100 GWh to 200 GWh of capacity will become available as electric vehicle (EV) batteries reach end-of-life. It’s a perfect match.” There are still some technological hurdles to overcome, however. Engineers at DESL are developing methods for measuring car batteries’ residual capacity in order to give them a second life. “We can now determine how many and which cycles second-life batteries can run through within a power grid cycle,” says Paolone. “Given that a grid’s cycles are much less intense than those in cars, these batteries could be useful for several more years.”<h2>Building a stronger grid</h2>The second way that the transition to renewables will impact power grids relates to the grid infrastructure itself. Paolone explains: “We need more power transmission lines. Today, transmission lines at all levels – from very high voltage to distribution – are currently operating at full capacity during certain periods, and this issue will continue to worsen over time.” In Switzerland, assuming nuclear power is phased out and all personal vehicles and residential heating units are electric, we’ll need around 40 GWp of photovoltaic power. But the DESL model shows that medium-voltage power lines start getting congested at 13 GWp. So the country will need to make hefty investments to upgrade its power infrastructure.Local, decentralized power storage systems – or in other words, batteries – would help reduce the need for new power lines. DESL engineers have designed optimization algorithms that, based on the solar power generated within a community and the load on the local grid, can precisely identify where storage systems should be installed and where grid capacity needs to be expanded to minimize the community’s electricity costs.Yet there’s another problem standing in the way of finding the optimal energy mix, power storage system and load balancing strategy. “Today, our grids remain stable and reliable due to effective control over power generation, as well as robust grid planning and operational processes,” says Paolone. “That’s possible because we have relatively few power stations to manage. But what will happen when we have millions of decentralized power generators that are outside the control of grid operators? When 1 GW of today’s nuclear power is replaced by 5 GWp of distributed solar panels, how will that be managed? There’ll be an explosion in the number of variables that grid operators will have to juggle. Technically, we could supply all our power needs with photovoltaics, but that would require making major changes to our grid control systems, transmission and distribution systems, and electricity market.”Of course, there’s still the demand part of the equation. Another way to reduce our need for power storage is to gain better control over variations in demand. “If we’re able to effectively modulate the load on the grid, then we can do just about anything,” says Paolone. Technology being developed in this direction includes control systems for EV charging stations, bidirectional EV charging and real-time variable electricity pricing.

To transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewables – which are intermittent by nature – we’ll need to rework our entire system of power storage, transmission and distribution.

Renewable energy puts power grids to the test

Researchers from ITMO University have managed to improve the efficacy of perovskite solar cells with the help of silicon nanoantennas, which increase the concentration of light in the material at certain wavelengths. In the future, specialists can employ the new method to create solar cells for indoor lighting and even the space industry. The results of the study are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S138589472404258X" target="_blank" id="isPasted">published</a> in Chemical Engineering Journal.Solar panels are the driving force of wireless autonomous electronics. At their core are solar cells – electronic devices that convert light directly into electricity. The main obstacle to the widespread use of solar panels is their low efficiency: the maximum efficiency of solar panels at top laboratories reaches values of just about 26%. However, even the 26% figure is hard to obtain, as physicists have to comply with strict requirements such as sterile rooms and materials.Solar cells and batteries in general can be improved by developing semiconductor materials that efficiently absorb light. Perovskites are considered promising since they are light, thin, and easy-to-produce and can be used to make thin solar cells with varied bending shapes, low weight, and multiple applications. Like other semiconductors, perovskites, however, absorb just a fraction of the spectrum and therefore generate less energy than they receive from the source.To that end, ITMO scientists have developed perovskite solar cells using silicon-based optical resonant nanoantennas. Depending on their size and refractive index, nanoantennas resonantly scatter light, thus increasing its concentration in the perovskite at certain wavelengths (in this case, 500-800 nm). The method is suitable for different types of perovskite-based semiconductors that absorb light in various spectral ranges.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1720662640362-1381101.png" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">A nanoantenna solution. Photo courtesy of Lev LogunovIn an experiment, the physicists infused several nanoparticle solutions into a solar cell to magnify light in various wavelengths: blue, green, yellow, red, and near IR. The specialists tested the obtained samples via a sun simulator and measured the conversion rate.&nbsp;The experiment showed that the efficiency of the cells increased as compared to the initial samples, which demonstrated a 19% rate. The best effect was achieved in two solutions of nanoantenna particles. The sample with nanoparticles with an average size of 160 nm showed a maximum efficiency of up to 20.5%; the efficiency of a sample with 140 nm nanoparticles, which scatter light in the green wavelength range, increased to 20.3%. The researchers are satisfied with the results of the study, as it was achieved in genuine systems, rather than in an ideal laboratory environment, which means the method can be massively introduced for a broader class of perovskite solar cells.“We’re going to further improve our solar cells and broaden the range of their uses; in particular, we want to adapt them for diffuse sources (such as indoor lighting solutions), which come with their own spectral properties. We'll also continue our work with nanoantennas. Perhaps, in the future, our solar cells will be used underwater or even in space,” -says&nbsp;Aleksandra Furasova, the first author of the paper and a researcher at the Laboratory of Hybrid Nanophotonics and Optoelectronics of ITMO’s Faculty of Physics.

Perovskite solar cells with nanoantennas. Photo by Dmitry Grigoryev / ITMO.NEWS

Researchers from ITMO University have managed to improve the efficacy of perovskite solar cells with the help of silicon nanoantennas, which increase the concentration of light in the material at certain wavelengths.

Solar Cells Made More Efficient Thanks to Silicon Nanoantennas

There’s a role for sustainably produced hydrogen in the energy transition, and not only as an energy storage medium or as fuel for lorries. In industry, it could be used wherever hydrogen is already needed today: for example, in the production of ammonia. Worldwide, 180 million tonnes of ammonia are produced every year, mainly for the fertiliser industry. The necessary hydrogen is currently obtained from natural gas, which results in high greenhouse gas emissions and a reliance on gas-exporting countries. Using green hydrogen as a clean alternative would bring the world closer to climate targets and reduce dependency. Green hydrogen is produced using sustainable electricity via a process called electrolysis.In a study looking at the European ammonia industry, researchers from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and ETH Zurich have now calculated the conditions under which it would be worthwhile to switch ammonia production to green or almost green hydrogen.<h2>Already economically viable in Spain and Norway</h2>Two results stand out. First, in some European countries such as Norway, Spain, Hungary or Poland, ammonia production from green or almost green hydrogen would already make economic sense today. In these countries, generating sustainable electricity from solar or wind energy is particularly cost-effective. This is thanks to these countries’ favourable geographical conditions, as well as state subsidies or generally low electricity costs. The latter means that, in the absence of sunshine or wind, hydrogen production could fall back on cheap power from the grid. As a result, producers here could do without expensive storage solutions for sustainable electricity.Second, even electricity that isn’t completely fossil-free will still have a thoroughly positive climate impact. According to the study, hydrogen from electrolysis makes sense even if some of the power used isn’t from renewable sources. This gives producers the freedom to switch to electricity from the grid, some of which comes from fossil sources, whenever the sun or wind is in short supply.<h2>One kilogramme of CO2 would be fine for the climate</h2>The study’s lead author is Stefano Mingolla, a doctoral student at HKUST. He worked for six months in the group led by Giovanni Sansavini, Professor at the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering at ETH Zurich. “If you use almost green hydrogen to produce ammonia, you can achieve a lot very quickly – it’s low-hanging fruit,” Sansavini says. “This is in contrast to other applications, where hydrogen serves merely as energy storage and requires conversion from one form of energy to another. In ammonia production, hydrogen is used directly as a raw material, eliminating the need for inefficient conversions.”<a target="_blank"></a><blockquote>“It’s important to adjust ambitions accordingly.” -&nbsp;<cite>Giovanni Sansavini</cite></blockquote><a target="_blank"></a>Calculations by Mingolla and his colleagues show that greenhouse gas emissions from ammonia production could be reduced by 95 percent compared to today if the hydrogen used were produced in a way that releases no more than one kilogramme of CO2 per kilogramme of hydrogen. The electricity required for this would have to be significantly greener than the current mix in Germany, Poland and the Netherlands. These three countries are the largest ammonia producers in Europe. For comparison: one kilogramme of hydrogen produced using the Swiss electricity mix would lead to emissions of 1.7 kilogrammes of CO2; the figure using the current electricity mix in Germany would be 18 kilogrammes of CO2, in the Netherlands 16 kilogrammes and in Poland 33 kilogrammes.Decarbonising hydrogen production completely, rather than just by 95 percent, would be prohibitively expensive. The last 5 percent of decarbonisation is the most complex and costly; it would almost double the overall price tag. “It’s important to adjust ambitions accordingly,” Sansavini says. “It would be counterproductive to aim for complete decarbonisation, as the excessive costs could slow down the energy transition.”<h2>New solar and wind parks for hydrogen production</h2>However, Sansavini emphasises that hydrogen won’t be produced on a large scale using electricity from the grid since, in many cases, both local power generation and cross-border grid transmission capacity are inadequate.A more likely scenario is for new solar or wind farms to be built directly next to existing ammonia plants. However, this requires large areas of land. As the study shows, the more a given region enjoys favourable geographical conditions for generating electricity from solar or wind energy, the less land is needed. Southern Europe and areas along the Atlantic coast have an advantage here. “Because the amount of land required is so large, we need to think primarily about combined land use – for instance, a wind or solar farm where agriculture can be practised at the same time,” Sansavini says.Green hydrogen might already be competitive in Norway, Spain, Hungary and Poland, but on average across Europe, producing it is significantly more expensive than extracting hydrogen from natural gas. “For green hydrogen to become competitive everywhere, further investment in research and development is needed, as are economic incentives,” Sansavini says. What exactly is meant by “green” hydrogen is also currently being discussed in the EU. “We need to balance the costs and the environmental impact. Any definition should permit green hydrogen to contain some residual fossil energy,” Sansavini explains. Using the example of ammonia production, the research team has now calculated a recommendation for this residual proportion: up to one kilogramme of CO2 emissions per kilogramme of hydrogen would be acceptable and sensible.<hr><h2 id="isPasted">Reference</h2>Mingolla S, Gabrielli P, Manzotti A, Robson MJ, Rouwenhorst K, Ciucci F, Sansavini G, Klemun MM, Lu Z: Effects of emissions caps on the costs and feasibility of low-carbon hydrogen in the European ammonia industry, Nature Communications, 4 May 2024, doi:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-48145-z" target="_blank">external page10.1038/s41467-024-48145-z</a>

In April 2024, the electricity company Axpo opened a hydrogen production facility adjacent to a hydropower plant in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. A large-scale ammonia plant would require a much bigger facility. (Photograph: Keystone-SDA / Gian Ehrenzeller)

Whether sustainably produced hydrogen needs to be 100 percent green is currently under debate. Using the production of ammonia and artificial fertiliser as examples, researchers have calculated that "nearly sustainable" hydrogen would be better in the end.

Light green hydrogen will do

This article delves into the technology behind Metal core PCBs (MCPCBs), recent advancements, practical engineering applications, and the challenges faced in their implementation.

Metal Core PCB (MCPCB): Revolutionizing Thermal Management in Electronics

Governments around the world and companies in all industries and businesses are coming together to engage in efforts to achieve carbon neutrality (Fig. 1). Every conceivable multifaceted decarbonization measure is being taken. This includes, for instance, the utilization of renewable energies such as solar power, the electrification of equipment that was previously used by burning fossil fuels, and the reduction in power consumption of existing devices like home appliances, IT equipment, and industrial motors.Various countries and regions have introduced carbon pricing mechanisms as systems to shift greenhouse gas emissions from business activities to costs. As a result, in addition to being meaningful as social contribution, carbonization initiatives now have a clear numerical impact on the financial statements that serve as a report card for corporate management.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNzE4NjczOTk0OTY2LXBvd2VyLXNlbWljb24taW1nMDAwMS5qcGciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Fig. 1: Acceleration in the pace of efforts for electrification and a reduction in power consumption to achieve carbon neutrality<h2 id="isPasted">Full Model Change in Semiconductor Materials for the First Time in 50 Years</h2>There has been an increase in activity for decarbonization efforts. Against this background, there is a field in semiconductors where the pace of the movement in technological innovation is rapidly accelerating. This is the power semiconductor field.Power semiconductors are semiconductor devices that play the role of managing, controlling, and converting the power necessary to operate electrical and electronic equipment. These devices are built into so-called power electronics circuits. These circuits include power circuits that stably supply drive power to home appliances and IT equipment, power conversion circuits to transmit and distribute power without waste, and circuits that drive motors with high efficiency at a torque and rotational speed that can be controlled freely. These power semiconductors, which are key devices to realize a sustainable society, have now started to undergo a once-in-50-years full model change.Power semiconductors have various device structures including MOSFET*1, IGBT*2, and diodes. They are used differently according to the purpose. Nevertheless, although the structure differs, silicon (Si) has consistently been used for more than 50 years as the device material. That is because Si has good electrical characteristics and has the property of being easy to process into various device structures at the same time.*1: A Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (MOSFET) is a type of Field Effect Transistor. It functions as an electrical switch. These transistors consist of three layers: a metal, oxide, and semiconductor. The current is turned on and off by applying a voltage to the electrode called a gate.*2: An Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) is a transistor with a structure that combines a MOSFET and bipolar transistor. It is characterized by combining the high-speed operation of the MOSFET with the high withstand voltage and low resistance of the bipolar transistor. &nbsp;However, Si-based power semiconductors are no longer able to clear the high level of technical requirements to further reduce the power consumption of various electrical and electronic equipment. To overcome this situation, progress is underway on the utilization of new materials such as silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN), which are more suitable than Si as materials for power semiconductors. SiC and GaN have multiple physical properties and characteristics suitable for power semiconductors. These include their dielectric breakdown field strength (affects the withstand voltage), mobility (affects the operating speed), and thermal conductivity (affects reliability). If we can develop a device that brings out those excellent characteristics, we can realize power semiconductors with even higher performance.SiC-based MOSFETs and diodes have already been commercialized. They are being used in electric vehicle (EV) motor drive inverters, DC/AC converters in solar power generation power conditioners, and other equipment. GaN-based HEMT*3 have also already been commercialized. They are now being used in AC converters for ultra-small PCs, chargers for smartphones, and other equipment.*3: A High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT) is a Field Effect Transistor that enables high-speed switching by joining semiconductors with differing properties to induce electrons with high mobility.<h2>Evolution of Capacitors, Inductors, and Other Equipment Is Essential to Draw out the Potential of SiC and GaN</h2>It is not possible to draw out the full outstanding potential of power semiconductors made based on new materials simply by replacing the Si-based devices in existing power electronics circuits. This is because the other semiconductor ICs, passive components, and even the control software that comprise power electronics circuits have been developed and selected on the assumption they would be used in Si-based power semiconductors. It is necessary to newly re-develop and re-select these peripheral components as well to effectively utilize new material-based power semiconductors.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNzE4Njc0MDE0MjUzLXBvd2VyLXNlbWljb24taW1nMDAwMl9lbi5wbmciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Fig. 2: Example of an AC/DC converter circuit utilizing a GaN-based power semiconductor used in data center servers and other technologiesFor example, numerous GaN HEMTs are being used in AC/DC converter circuits that have adopted GaN HEMTs recently introduced to lower power consumption in the power supplies of data center servers (Fig. 2). It is possible to improve the switching frequency (operating frequency) of power electronics circuits by utilizing the features of GaN HEMTs in that they enable high-speed switching at high voltages. The reactance value of capacitors embedded into circuits and inductors in reactor signal processing circuits can be lower in circuits with a high operating frequency. In general, low reactance components have a small size. Therefore, it is possible to downsize the circuit board and to improve the power density. Similarly, introducing SiC MOSFETs even in inverter circuits which drive EV motors and other components enables the downsizing of peripheral components and also allows the overall inverter circuits to be made smaller and more lightweight.On the other hand, a high level of noise may arise from high-voltage and high-speed switching power supplies. There is a possibility that noise may then adversely affect the operation of the peripheral equipment. Power supplies comprising power semiconductors made with SiC and GaN switch at an even higher frequency. Therefore, the risk of noise occurring further increases. Accordingly, stricter noise suppression is required than when using existing power electronics circuits. At that time, there is a need to use noise suppression components designed to be applied to high-voltage, large-current, and high-frequency circuits rather than those for conventional circuits.In addition, there is also a need for small transformers that operate at even higher frequencies for transformers that are particularly heavy components even among passive components. Low profile planar transformers and other components have already been developed and launched onto the market under the assumption that they will be used in SiC- and GaN-based power semiconductors.<h2>Attention Focusing on the Evolution of Peripheral Components in Addition to Power Semiconductors</h2>Various types of semiconductors, not limited to power semiconductors, have been made based on Si up to now. Therefore, many existing electronic components have been developed under the implicit assumption that they will be used by being combined with Si-based semiconductors. It may become necessary to develop new products to suit the new technical requirements instead of simply searching for even better products among existing components to maximize the effect of introducing power semiconductors made with new materials.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNzE4Njc0MDMxOTYzLXBvd2VyLXNlbWljb24taW1nMDAwM19lbi5wbmciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Fig. 3: Distribution of power semiconductors by device material and structureIn general, Si-based power semiconductors tend to operate at lower speeds the greater the voltage and current they can handle (Fig. 3). That is the reason why there are not enough small capacitors and reactors that can handle high voltages and large currents. Moreover, there is a trend to simplify the heat dissipation system and to reduce the size, weight, and cost for SiC-based power semiconductors that can operate stably under high temperatures. In these cases, the passive components also need to have a guaranteed high reliability under a high-temperature environment.The introduction of new materials in the power semiconductor field is a major move to update the electrical and electronic ecosystem that has been optimized to Si materials for more than 50 years. Therefore, we also want to pay a great deal of attention to the evolution of peripheral electronic components optimized for new materials.<hr id="isPasted"><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1718674063548-1718674063548.png" class="fr-fic fr-dii">If you have any questions based on this article that you would like to discuss with an expert at Murata, don't hesitate to reach out. There's an entire team ready to support you with your question.<a href="https://www.murata.com/en-eu/contactform?&Detail=Wevolver%20request" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" class="button-main-action">GET IN TOUCH</a>

Unlocking Efficiency: Enhancing Power Conversion and Motor Drives with SiC and GaN Power Semiconductors

The sun’s rays are the source of all the Earth’s renewable energy. This manna from heaven supplies the equivalent of one barrel (159 liters) of oil per square meter per year – at least in sunny regions, like Switzerland’s canton of Valais – at no cost.What’s more, our capacity for turning solar energy into electrical power is on the rise. That’s partly because engineers are constantly making improvements to boost the yields of photovoltaic (PV) cells, and partly (or even mostly) because both supply and demand for these units are booming. Nearly 375 GW of solar-panel capacity was installed globally in 2023. That’s four times more than in 2019 and 20 times more than in 2010. It’s a lot, but still not enough.Christophe Ballif, the head of EPFL’s Laboratory of Photovoltaics and Thin-Film Electronics (PV Lab) in Neuchâtel, puts these figures in perspective: “By 2050, we’ll need to replace 80% of the fossil fuels we currently use with clean energy. It’s a huge challenge. If we continue at the same pace as in 2023, when 375 GW of solar capacity and 110 GW of wind capacity were installed, then it’ll take around 120 years to get there. But our goal is to accomplish the energy transition in 30 years – a more reasonable time frame in light of the climate crisis. That means we’ll need to increase annual solar capacity installation by a factor of nearly four, to 1,500 GW.” Yet he thinks this is possible: “China has invested between $60 billion and $80 billion over the past three years in new manufacturing capabilities for everything from polysilicon to complete solar units. By next year at the latest, it should have the required production capacity. But this Herculean effort on the supply side is actually coming a little too soon. We’re clearly in a situation of overcapacity.”<h2>A combination of solar and wind</h2>Solar power will make up a sharply growing share of the world’s energy mix, which is good news. In Switzerland, the government has introduced targets for transitioning to solar and other kinds of renewable energy by 2050. The goal is to have renewables supply 45 TWh, or more than half of the country’s total power demand based on current levels. Experts agree that the most effective way to reach this target is to combine solar with other forms of clean energy: hydropower, of course, but ideally also a sizable amount of wind power.To be employed with power grids, both solar and wind power need to be coupled with one or more storage systems such as batteries, dams and synthesis gas. For batteries in particular (including EV batteries), China is once again the world’s manufacturing powerhouse. Here too, the country has made massive investments in new facilities. “China is flooding the market and overproducing to the point where prices are collapsing, for both batteries and solar units,” says Ballif. “That’s good for consumers and the energy transition in general, but it will create a form of dependency that we don’t want. Governments in other regions, including in Europe, need to build and expand their manufacturing capacity in order to make the market more resilient.”<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1717983897855-8cd2ff71.jpg" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Illustration Éric Buche<h2 id="isPasted">Neuchâtel: A hub of yield-boosting technology</h2>That said, it’s not easy to invest in capacity when you’re up against that kind of competition. But it is possible to find ways of doing things better, or differently. Engineers at Ballif’s lab and at the Centre Suisse d’Électronique et de Microtechnique (CSEM) in Neuchâtel, where Ballif also heads a research group, have developed methods for considerably increasing the yields of PV cells. Some of their technology is being implemented in China’s new factories. For instance, the engineers designed “tandem” cells consisting of a perovskite layer deposited on a silicon cell. These devices set a new world record for power conversion efficiency and broke through the symbolic 30% yield barrier.A number of solar-energy startups have popped up in and around Neuchâtel, building on the research conducted by researchers there. Some of those companies are developing systems for integrating PV cells into a building’s architecture through panels and tiles with customizable colors (these firms include Freesuns, Solaxess and SwissINSO), while others are creating systems specifically for farming applications (Insolight and Voltiris). “It’s true that these startups operate in niche markets,” says Ballif. “But as far as Switzerland is concerned, their technology can go a long way towards meeting the government’s targets.” They’re also proof that Swiss businesses aren’t about to throw in the towel. Just look at Thun-based 3S, which recently built a new 200 MW/year production line for solar panels that can be integrated into buildings, and Meyer Burger, which now has a total production capacity of 1 GW/year at sites in Europe. Both these companies leverage technology developed in association with CSEM and EPFL.Forecasts by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy indicate that solar power will be a key component of the country’s energy mix in 2050 (see infographic). “The potential for solar is definitely there,” Ballif explains. “PV cells can be integrated into buildings’ architecture, placed on top of supermarkets and their parking lots, for example, and installed on mountains, where models with bifacial panels – which can also capture the sunlight that reflects off snow – are particularly effective during the winter. Switzerland’s total installed capacity was 1.5 GW in 2023, which can generate 1.5 TWh of solar power per year. This renewable energy should reach 10% of our energy mix in 2024. So it’s on track to make a major contribution to the government’s goal of having 45 TWh of power come from renewables.”<h2>Reshaping geopolitics</h2>Looking at the bigger picture, the pressure that Chinese manufacturers are putting on the prices of PV and wind components, batteries and electrolyzers could substantially alter the geopolitical playing field. “At these prices, operators could build plants in Africa’s deserts and generate power at less than 1.3 cents per kWh. That’s five to ten times cheaper than the cost at newly built nuclear plants. This would make it more economical to produce clean hydrogen by water electrolysis than to produce grey hydrogen from natural gas,” says Ballif. “Another option could be to turn the hydrogen into ammonia, initially for use in crop fertilizer and later for transporting energy to Europe.”If renewable energy gets that cheap, many governments and businesses could be tempted to ramp up their support for the energy transition, simply because it makes financial sense. That would be a blow to oil-exporting nations like Russia and Saudia Arabia. “China may be saving the planet – but that will create other challenges!” says Ballif.<hr>For more details, take a look at our longread "<a href="https://longread.epfl.ch/en/dossier/energies-go-green/" target="_blank" id="isPasted">Energies go green</a>".

Solar energy, which is both abundant and free, is poised to become the world’s leading power source by 2050. © iStock

Solar energy, which is both abundant and free, is poised to become the world’s leading power source by 2050. That’s thanks largely to technological advances and the unbridled manufacturing of solar cells, which bodes well for a successful energy transition.

The bright future of solar energy

Closing in on the theoretical maximum efficiency, devices for turning heat into electricity are edging closer to being practical for use on the grid, according to University of Michigan research.&nbsp;Heat batteries could store intermittent renewable energy during peak production hours, relying on a thermal version of solar cells to convert it into electricity later.&nbsp;“As we include higher fractions of renewables on the grid to reach decarbonization goals, we need lower costs and longer durations of energy storage as the energy generated by solar and wind does not match when the energy is used,” <a href="https://che.engin.umich.edu/people/lenert-andrej/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Andrej Lenert</a>, U-M associate professor of chemical engineering and corresponding author of the study recently published in Joule.Thermophotovoltaic cells work similarly to photovoltaic cells, commonly known as solar cells. Both convert electromagnetic radiation into electricity, but thermophotovoltaics use the lower energy infrared photons rather than the higher energy photons of visible light.&nbsp;The team reports that their new device has a power conversion efficiency of 44% at 1435°C, within the target range for existing high-temperature energy storage &nbsp;(1200°C-1600°C). It surpasses the 37% achieved by previous designs within this range of temperatures.“It’s a form of battery, but one that’s very passive. You don’t have to mine lithium as you do with electrochemical cells, which means you don’t have to compete with the electric vehicle market. Unlike pumped water for hydroelectric energy storage, you can put it anywhere and don’t need a water source nearby,” said <a href="https://eecs.engin.umich.edu/people/forrest-stephen-r/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Stephen Forrest</a>, the Peter A. Franken Distinguished University Professor of Electrical Engineering at U-M and contributing author of the study.In a heat battery, thermophotovoltaics would surround a block of heated material at a temperature of at least 1000°C. It might reach that temperature by passing electricity from a wind or solar farm through a resistor or by absorbing excess heat from solar thermal energy or steel, glass or concrete production.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1717629790558-Bosun_Roy-Layinde.jpg" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Bosun Roy-Layinde, a recent PhD graduate of chemical engineering, demonstrates how he measures the amount of power generated by his thermal photovoltaic cells. Photo: Brenda Ahearn, Michigan Engineering.“Essentially, using electricity to heat something up is a very simple and inexpensive method to store energy relative to lithium ion batteries. It gives you access to many different materials to use as a storage medium for thermal batteries,” Lenert said.The heated storage material radiates thermal photons with a range of energies. At 1435°C, about 20-30% of those have enough energy to generate electricity in the team’s thermophotovoltaic cells. The key to this study was optimizing the semiconductor material, which captures the photons, to broaden its preferred photon energies while aligning with the dominant energies produced by the heat source.But the heat source also produces photons above and below the energies that the semiconductor can convert to electricity. Without careful engineering, those would be lost.&nbsp;To solve this problem, the researchers built a thin layer of air into the thermophotovoltaic cell just beyond the semiconductor and added a gold reflector beyond the air gap—a structure they call an air bridge. This cavity helped trap photons with the right energies so that they entered the semiconductor and sent the rest back into the heat storage material, where the energy had another chance to be re-emitted as a photon the semiconductor could capture.“Unlike solar cells, thermophotovoltaic cells can recuperate or recycle photons that are not useful,” said Bosun Roy-Layinde, U-M doctoral student of chemical engineering and first author of the study.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1717629808947-TPVcell_test-featured+%281%29.jpg" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">To measure the power produced by his photovoltaic cells, Roy-Layinde holds a heat source held over the photovoltaic cell, which emits the infrared radiation that the cell converts into electricity. Wires connected to the photovoltaic cell run the electricity to a sensor that reads the voltage and amperage. Photo credit: Brenda Ahearn, Michigan Engineering.A recent study found&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.4c00774" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">stacking two air bridges</a> improves the design, increasing both the range of photons converted to electricity and the useful temperature range for heat batteries.“We’re not yet at the efficiency limit of this technology. I am confident that we will get higher than 44% and be pushing 50% in the not-too-distant future,” said Forrest.The team has applied for patent protection with the assistance of U-M Innovation Partnerships and is seeking partners to bring the technology to market.This research is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (grant numbers 2018572 and 2144662) and the Army Research Office (grant number W911-NF-17-0312). &nbsp;&nbsp;Forrest is also the Paul G. Goebel Professor of Engineering and professor of electrical engineering and computer science, materials science and engineering, and physics.

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