AVESS will demonstrate its VFB prototype at Atlantic’s world-class Windimurra Vanadium Project, located 670km north of Perth and 80km from Mount Magnet, Western Australia.

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The demonstration will integrate AVESS’ VFB prototype and solar PV into an existing disconnected microgrid to power non-essential loads on the Windimurra Vanadium Mine campsite.

The Atlantic partnership signifies a transformational opportunity for AVESS to validate its VFB technology with a proven vanadium developer while cementing AVESS’ position in the Australian mining sector and growing its VFB market share.

The two businesses will now work towards regulatory approvals and definitive agreements.

AVESS Energy managing director Young Yu said, “We are grateful for this opportunity to showcase our VFB, and we look forward to growing our partnership with Atlantic.

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“The deployment of our 50Kw/250Kwh VFB at Windimurra represents a significant milestone for AVESS Energy.

“This exciting partnership is another step towards the development of the local vanadium supply chain.”

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Related article: Solar glass firm secures first commercial order in Australia

ClearVue’s technology helps generate electricity from clear glass, offering a significant 22.8% reduction in solar heat gain as recently demonstrated by independent testing conducted by Singapore’s peak building authority. LuxWall’s technology involves the use of vacuum insulation to create highly energy efficient single and double pane glazing modules, cutting heating costs by up to 45%.

The partnership combines these technologies to produce a new double-glazed format photovoltaic vacuum insulated glazing unit (or ‘PV VIGU’). It is expected to thermally outperform all existing double-glazed low emissivity solutions while also generating power from the glass, thus creating the world’s most efficient glazing solution to assist with achieving net-zero construction goals.

The final glazing product will boast unique properties such as optical transparency, lowest heat gain, and the highest energy generation currently possible for clear solar glass.

Zero Windows will see high demand from sustainability-conscious architects and developers looking for ways to reduce carbon in buildings, achieve top LEED certifications, and cut energy use in the built environment.

A prototype of the Zero Window will be demonstrated at the American Institute of Architects Conference on Architecture and Design in Washington DC in June 2024.

ClearVue global CEO Martin Deil said, “We are excited to partner with LuxWall on this innovative product. Vacuum insulated windows provide the best thermal performance products and minimise energy use. ClearVue technology can enhance that thermal performance even further and generate electricity at the same time, providing clean energy on site and helping meet sustainability targets.

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“By combining our respective technologies, we create a solution that revolutionizes the way buildings are designed and constructed. The Zero Window will be a net-zero focused window, reducing operational carbon through both thermal insulation and power generation.”

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Energy Ink takes moisture from the air—humidity—and converts it into electrical power.
Power density is a measure of how much power can be produced in a given area and is a crucial metric for comparing emerging technologies with established systems. In laboratory conditions, a 1cm2 prototype high-power Energy Ink cell successfully exceeded the power density of solar cells used in commercial solar panels.

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Technologies like the Energy Ink that use moisture as a high-power energy source have significant technical issues in low power density, short duration and material degradation. Thus, there has been a preconception that moisture is only suitable for small devices.

Strategic Elements says Energy Ink was successfully re-engineered to achieve a significant 1,000-fold increase in power density in under 12 months. This achievement challenges the conventional notion that moisture is limited to powering small devices.

Australian Advanced Materials and the University of New South Wales (UNSW) have worked together on printed electronics over many years and were awarded a prestigious Australian Research Council Linkage Grant to progress moisture as an energy source for wearables.

“We are very excited that the Energy Ink has achieved such high power density at this early stage. We believe there is still great potential to improve the device performance further and aim to scale up in the near future,” UNSW Professor Dewei Chu said.

Strategic Elements managing director Charles Murphy said, “Our early-stage achievement expands the potential of the Energy Ink beyond small devices. The 1,000-fold increase in power density in under 12 months represents a leap forward in harnessing moisture as an energy source. It is a testament to the dedication of the AAM/UNSW team.

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“Achieving the required power and duration of high-power cells, as well as upscaling fabrication of numerous cells and electrodes, are formidable challenges for the Energy Ink. Notwithstanding this, we have set an ambitious goal for the coming year. That is, to generate energy from moisture in an apartment building parking bay overnight, store a small charge into an electric vehicle and drive it away.”

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Related article: Bizarre-looking wind turbine generates five times more energy than its peers

According to New Atlas, the company’s 2.5MW Airloom setup comprises a number of 25m poles to suspend an oval-shaped track, into which a series of 10m wing blades are set, joined by a cable.

These blades generate wind energy as they travel around the track, which is oriented such that the long sides are angled for maximum wind capture and the short ends are spaces where the blades can change direction as the rest of the blades haul them around.

Power takeoffs harvest linear motion from the cable to run generators. Where a regular wind turbine gets maximum torque from the tips of its blades and very little from the bits closest to the hub, the full length of each of the Airloom system’s blades will contribute to hauling the whole loop around, with effectively a short break twice per revolution as they turn around at the ends.

Airloom’s smaller parts can be built in relatively small factories from non-specialist materials, and every part of installing and maintaining them becomes easier, cheaper and safer. It also promises to be far less visually intrusive than tall wind turbine towers.

The company says a wing track will cost somewhere in the vicinity of US$225,000.

Related article: China builds world’s biggest, most powerful wind turbine

With prototypes already up and running, Airloom says it plans to use its seed funding to prove the technology with a 50kW test device, after which it will move to commercialisation.

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The untapped potential of ocean wave energy is vast—it has been estimated that the power of coastal waves around the world each year is equivalent to annual global electricity production. 

With over 35,000km of coastline, Australia is ideally placed to tap into this power source. Analysis shows Australia could produce twice its current electricity output by harvesting just 17 per cent of its wave energy.

But the challenges of developing technologies that can efficiently extract that natural power and withstand the harsh ocean environment have kept wave energy stuck at experimental stage.

Now a research team led by RMIT University has created a wave energy converter that is twice as efficient at harvesting power as any similar technologies developed to date.

Related article: Wave Swell Energy: Using the motion of the ocean

The innovation, published in the journal Applied Energy, relies on a world-first, dual-turbine prototype.

Lead researcher Professor Xu Wang said wave energy was one of the most promising sources of clean, reliable and renewable power.

“While wind and solar dominate the renewable market, they are available only 20-30 per cent of the time,” Wang said.

“Wave energy is available 90 per cent of the time on average and the potential power contained in offshore waves is immense.

“Our prototype technology overcomes some of the key technical challenges that have been holding back the wave energy industry from large-scale deployment.

“With further development, we hope this technology could be the foundation for a thriving new renewable energy industry delivering massive environmental and economic benefits.” 

One of the most popular experimental approaches is to harvest wave energy through a buoy-type converter known as a “point absorber”, which is ideal for offshore locations. 

This technology, which harvests energy from the up and down movement of waves, is generally cost-effective to manufacture and install.

But it needs to be precisely synchronised with incoming wave movement to efficiently harvest the energy. This usually involves an array of sensors, actuators and control processors, adding complexity to the system that can cause underperformance, as well as reliability and maintenance issues.

The RMIT-created prototype needs no special synching tech, as the device naturally floats up and down with the swell of the wave.

“By always staying in sync with the movement of the waves, we can maximise the energy that’s harvested,” Wang said.

“Combined with our unique counter-rotating dual turbine wheels, this prototype can double the output power harvested from ocean waves, compared with other experimental point absorber technologies.”

The simple and economical device has been developed by RMIT engineering researchers in collaboration with researchers from Beihang University in China.

Two turbine wheels, which are stacked on top of each other and rotate in opposite directions, are connected to a generator through shafts and a belt-pulley driven transmission system. 

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The generator is placed inside a buoy above the waterline to keep it out of corrosive seawater and extend the lifespan of the device.

The prototype has been successfully tested at lab scale and the research team is keen to collaborate with industry partners to test a full-scale model, and work towards commercial viability.

“We know it works in our labs, so the next steps are to scale this technology up and test it in a tank or in real-life ocean conditions,” Wang said.

“Tapping into our wave energy resource could not only help us cut carbon emissions and create new green energy jobs, it also has great potential for addressing other environmental problems.”

“For example, as the frequency of drought increases, wave energy could be used to power carbon-neutral desalination plants and supply fresh water for the agriculture industry – a smart adaptation to the challenge of a changing climate.”

The research was supported through an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project grant.

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