Author: solarenergy
The risk profile of BESS insurance is shifting. In an exclusive interview, Tokio Marine GX entrepreneur Michael Carrington explains why insurers are looking past battery fires and worrying about supply chain bottlenecks, high-voltage transformers and costly EPC integration errors. March 20, 2026 Tristan Rayner By ESS news For insurers insuring gigawatt-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS), thermal runaway is no longer the only bogeyman. It is the speed of product development, inexperienced integration and vulnerabilities in the factory balance sheet that keep the insurance sector on its toes. Michael Carrington, an underwriter at TMGX, a specialist in renewable energy insurance,…
Sweden’s Ionautics has taken its platinum-based hydrogen catalyst to full industrial production, while thyssenkrupp nucera has signed contracts for 300 MW of alkaline electrolysis capacity in Spain and 260 MW in India. March 20, 2026 Sergio Matalucci Ionautic hydrogen catalyst technology Image: Ionautiek Ionautics has developed its platinum-based hydrogen catalyst technology towards full industrial production, with funding from the Swedish Energy Agency. The company and its partners – the Royal Institute of Technology and the RISE Research Institute of Sweden – have spent more than five years researching vapor-deposited porous iridium layers for the production of green hydrogen. Extensive testing…
Europe’s hybrid solar-plus-storage projects are growing rapidly, but increasing complexity means that treating technical due diligence as a formality is now a serious risk. Rigorous, lifecycle-based technical due diligence (TDD) – covering financial, supply chain, digital and ESG factors – is essential to ensure project reliability, investor confidence and a resilient clean energy transition. March 20, 2026 Solar energy Europe The European energy transition is accelerating faster than anyone predicted. Utility-scale solar and battery storage are no longer separate technologies; they are increasingly deployed as integrated hybrid systems that are expected to deliver robust capacity, grid services and long-term reliability.…
Foam Energy, which has developed a so-called ‘multi-day’ battery energy storage system (BESS), is marketing its patented iron-air battery, designed to deliver a discharge life of approximately 100 hours at full rated power.In very simple terms: the system works by the reversible oxidation (rust) of ironas explained in a 2021 Energy storage.news interview with CEO Jaramillo.Form Energy said this week (March 18) that a 10MW/1,000MWh project is planned in Ireland, through a partnership with developer FuturEnergy Ireland.The startup said it is ‘expected’ to come online in 2029, aiming to demonstrate the role multi-day energy storage can play in Ireland’s energy…
The path to a clean energy future is not only determined by technology, but is shaped by people. The energy transition must proceed quickly, and diversity is one of the levers that ensure that it proceeds faster. When teams are gender diverse, R&D produces better solutions because more problem frameworks are tested. Various policy teams are designing fairer incentives so that adoption spreads beyond the early adopters. Projects with inclusive community involvement are set up, projects without inclusive community involvement are blocked. Products designed by mixed teams work for more people, accelerating adoption. Built by diverse data teams, Grid AI…
Swish Solar has an AI-powered tool that optimizes solar panel cleaning schedules to reduce contamination losses and operating costs. The platform uses data analytics and forecasting models to help operators determine cleaning time based on financial impact. March 20, 2026 Emiliano Bellini Canadian startup Swish solar energy is developing solar panel cleaning and AI-based optimization technology for utility-scale solar power plants, aimed at reducing pollution losses and reducing costs associated with poorly timed cleaning. Dubbed SwishOSis the software designed to manage and predict cleaning operations at optimal intervals. “Because operations teams typically rely on a fixed cleaning schedule regardless of…
The Welsh Government and the country’s renewable energy industry have signed an agreement to help the country achieve its clean energy goals while benefiting the communities it serves.The Renewable Energy Sector Deal is the result of a strategic partnership between the Welsh Government and a group of developers, technology leaders and representatives from relevant industry bodies from the renewable energy sector in Wales, reporting to a Task and Finish Group. These groups include solar trade body Solar Energy UK.The Sector Deal will focus on onshore and offshore wind, solar, maritime and hydropower systems, with a design to accelerate their implementation.…
The Danish company said its configurable CO2 system delivers up to 4.8 MW per unit and is scalable up to 50 MW for large industrial and commercial projects. The units offer hot water production up to 95 C and are compatible with complex installations such as food processing, district heating and commercial buildings. March 20, 2026 Emiliano Bellini Denmark-based Advansor has unveiled its SteelXL heat pumps, a configurable range of high-capacity CO2 heat pump systems designed for large-scale industrial and commercial applications. Individual units provide up to 4.8 MW of heat, with the option to scale up in parallel to…
From the magazine Speed to power is the biggest prerequisite for data center developers in the United States. It takes 12 to 24 months on average to build a data center, whereas securing a connection to the electricity grid can take up to three times as long. “In today’s market, power solutions for high-demand applications like data centers are required on timelines that were unthinkable just a few years ago,” said Josh Tucker, director of engineering in the energy storage group at Burns & McDonnell, a Missouri-based engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company. “To meet this need for speed, on-site…
Researchers in Hong Kong Hong Kong fabricated a prototype of a thermochromic double-sided photovoltaic glazing system that passively regulates solar heat gain while simultaneously harvesting energy from both sides. Experiments and simulations have shown that it significantly reduces cooling loads and indoor temperatures while boosting electricity generation. March 19, 2026 Emiliano Bellini Researchers from the City University of Hong Kong have developed a novel thermochromic bifacial photovoltaic (TC-BiPV) glazing system that integrates hydrogel-based thermochromic (TC) layers with bifacial PV modules. This system dynamically regulates solar transmission and simultaneously collects radiation from both sides, while modeling and optimizing building energy consumption…