Energy Update

Research led by a Stanford scientist promises to increase the performance of high-power electrical storage devices, such as car batteries. In work published last week in Applied Physics Letters, the researchers describe a mathematical model for designing new materials for storing electricity.

California is privileged to have access to a variety of robust energy resources, particularly geothermal energy. It produces more geothermal power than any other state, and alone accounts for more than 20 percent of total geothermal energy production worldwide.

A U.K. power utility is in talks with two local partners of Brazil’s state-run utility Eletrobras to acquire minority stakes in about 640 MW of operating wind farms. The U.K.

The photovoltaic industry has been low margin for so many periods in its history that the concept of a margin healthy enough to profitably run an entire company is anathema to it. Focus on the benefits of multi gigawatt economies of scale on margins belies the lengths that PV manufacturers have undergone to salvage margin; lengths that include sourcing lower cost and thus lower quality backsheets, EVA, glass, junction boxes and polysilicon.