Solar Energy
Chinese Premier Li targets clean energy in Australia visit
Chinese Premier Li targets clean energy in Australia visit
by AFP Staff Writers
Sydney (AFP) June 18, 2024
Premier Li Qiang toured a Chinese-controlled lithium refiner in Perth on Tuesday, a sign of his country’s vast appetite for Australian “critical minerals” required for clean energy technologies.
Li ended his four-day visit to Australia with a tour of the low-carbon energy industry in resource-rich Western Australia.
His first stop was Tianqi Lithium Energy Australia, a 51-percent Chinese-owned venture comprising a mine for hard rock lithium ore, and a lithium refinery.
Along with at least a dozen other officials, China’s second most powerful man donned a white helmet during a rainy visit to the facility south of Perth.
The Chinese premier will also view a private research facility for clean energy-produced “green hydrogen” — touted as a fuel of the future to power heavy-duty items such as trucks and blast furnaces.
Australia extracts 52 percent of the world’s lithium, the vast majority of it exported as an ore to China for eventual refining and use in batteries, notably in China’s world-dominant electric vehicle industry.
But despite being a huge Australian customer, China’s involvement in the country’s critical mineral industry is sensitive because of its dominance of global supply chains.
Australia has only recently begun refining lithium rather than exporting the ore.
And the government has announced a strategic plan to develop new supply chains with friendly countries for critical minerals such as lithium, nickel and so-called rare earths.
Earlier this year, the government ordered five China-linked shareholders to sell off a combined 10 percent stake in Northern Minerals, a producer of the rare earth dysprosium.
Such foreign ownership was against Australia’s “national interests”, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said.
About 99 percent of the world’s dysprosium — used in high-performance magnets — is currently produced in China.
China has invested in critical minerals in Latin America, Africa and Australia over the past 10-20 years, said Marina Zhang, associate professor at the University of Technology Sydney’s Australia-China Relations Institute.
Developing supply chains independent of China is “fine and dandy” but unlikely to be achieved even in the short to medium term, she said.
“We are facing a very time-pressing issue that is fighting against climate change — so that issue should be at the centre of the discourse,” Zhang said.
“But unfortunately the Western allies are taking the approach that China’s dominance across the supply chains of critical minerals is imposing national security threats,” she said.
China’s narrative, however, was that it was investing and making a contribution to sustainability and environmental protection, the analyst said.
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DGIST enhances quantum dot solar cell performance
by Riko Seibo
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Oct 04, 2024
A research team led by Professor Jongmin Choi from the Department of Energy Science and Engineering at DGIST, in collaboration with Gyeongsang National University’s Professor Tae Kyung Lee and Kookmin University’s Professor Younghoon Kim, has developed a new method that significantly boosts the performance and longevity of perovskite quantum dot solar cells. Their innovative approach addresses a key issue: surface distortions on quantum dots that hinder solar cell efficiency.
Perovskite quantum dots are widely regarded as essential for next-generation solar cells due to their high light-to-electricity conversion efficiency and scalability. However, the process of replacing the “ligands” on their surface often causes distortions, akin to crumpled paper, that degrade solar cell performance.
The research team tackled this problem by introducing short ligands that firmly grip both sides of the quantum dots. This method effectively restores the quantum dot’s distorted surface, resembling the process of flattening crumpled paper. By smoothing the surface, they significantly reduced defects and improved both the performance and the stability of the solar cells. The power conversion efficiency rose from 13.6% to 15.3%, and the cells maintained 83% of their performance over 15 days, marking a major advancement in solar cell technology.
“Through this research, we could minimize surface defects on the quantum dots and stabilize their surfaces by newly adopting these amphiphilic ligands, thereby significantly improving the efficiency and stability of the solar cells,” explained Professor Jongmin Choi. He also noted the team’s intention to extend this approach to other photoelectric devices in the future.
This study, a collaborative effort by DGIST, Gyeongsang National University, and Kookmin University, was supported by the National Research Council of Science and Technology, the DGIST R and D Program, and the New Faculty Research Foundation at Gyeongsang National University. The findings were published in the ‘Chemical Engineering Journal’ on September 15, 2024.
Research Report:Multifaceted anchoring ligands for uniform orientation and enhanced cubic-phase stability of perovskite quantum dots
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Philippines’ Marcos opens first EV battery plant
by AFP Staff Writers
Manila (AFP) Sept 30, 2024
President Ferdinand Marcos inaugurated on Monday the first factory for electric vehicle batteries in the Philippines, calling it the “future” of clean energy.
The Australian-owned lithium-iron-phosphate factory aims to produce two gigawatt-hours of batteries per year by 2030, powering about 18,000 electric vehicles or nearly half a million home battery systems.
“We have worked very hard and tried to do our best to bring this kind of technology to the Philippines with a clear recognition that this is the future,” Marcos said in a livestreamed speech.
“As the first manufacturing plant in the Philippines for advanced iron phosphate batteries… (it) sets the stage for the Philippines to become a player in clean energy storage in our part of the world.”
Located in New Clark city north of Manila, the StB Giga Factory Inc. facility will create 2,500 local jobs and channel five billion pesos ($89.2 million) into the economy each year, Marcos said.
The investment aligns with the government’s efforts to “transition our country to renewable energy”, and would help Manila “entice more investors in renewable energy facilities in the country”, he added.
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Fire breaks out at Chinese battery giant CATL plant
by AFP Staff Writers
Beijing (AFP) Sept 29, 2024
A fire broke out Sunday at a factory belonging to Chinese battery giant CATL, which supplies electric vehicle makers including Tesla, but only a “relatively small” impact on operations is expected, the company said.
A CATL spokesperson said no injuries or casualties had occurred at the plant in the coastal city of Ningde, and that “the reasons behind this accident are still under investigation”.
Emergency services were sent to the plant to fight the fire and to organise the evacuation of any people who were inside the 15,000 square metre (160,000 square feet) site, a statement by the Dongqiao Economic and Technological Development Zone said.
Firefighters were alerted to the blaze just before 11:30 AM local time (0330 GMT).
It was not immediately clear what was produced at the plant, CATL’s base in the eastern province of Fujian, but the company said the effect of the now extinguished fire would not be significant.
“The impact to CATL’s overall production operation is relatively small,” the spokesperson said.
Videos published by the Chinese business media outlet Cailianshe, and posted on the Weibo social network, showed parts of a large white building in flames with thick gray smoke rising into the air.
AFP could not immediately verify the authenticity of the images.
CATL was founded in 2011 and produces more than a third of the electric vehicle batteries sold worldwide for automakers that include Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen, Toyota, Honda and Hyundai.
ehl-reb/des
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