The Brazilian oil giant, Petrobras, announced an investment of R$90 million (equivalent to about $18.4 million) in an ambitious research project focused on the production of green hydrogen and its potential application as a renewable fuel combined with natural gas in engines.

The state-owned company aims to establish a pilot electrolysis plant for the generation of green hydrogen, also known as low-carbon hydrogen, by processing water with energy derived from solar panels.

Located in Alto Rodrigues, a municipality in the state of Rio Grande do Norte (northeastern Brazil), the project will have an initial duration of three years and will be installed at an existing Petrobras facility, where an experimental photovoltaic generator is already in operation.

“The main purpose is to evaluate both the production and use of hydrogen obtained through the electrolysis of water using solar energy“, the oil company said in an official statement.

In addition, Petrobras intends to analyze “the performance and structural integrity of microturbines powered by a combination of hydrogen and natural gas.”

To meet the energy needs of the pilot electrolysis unit, the generation capacity of the solar plant at Alto Rodrigues will be increased from 1.0 to 2.5 megawatts peak.

Jean Paul Prates, President of Petrobras, quoted in the statement, said: “Among the benefits for the company is the development of knowledge about the behavior of the equipment depending on the mixture of hydrogen with natural gas, with a view to business models of interest to the company.”

K. Tovar

Source: ZBR

(Reference image: Social Mirror in Unsplash )

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The Venezuelan telecommunications operator, Digitel, once again innovates the market by installing solar panels to back up electricity at its Los Roques station, favoring more than 3,000 citizens who inhabit the island and the different tourists who visit it, considered one of the most important tourist attractions in Venezuela.

The system is already working properly autonomously, without depending on the electrical network, offering backup between 8 to 12 hours of energy that guarantees the continuity of all Digitel network services, including points of sale.

With this solution, the company makes the most of renewable energy sources since it achieves “savings in CO2 emissions due to solar contribution is 6.5 tons per year” resulting positively in the environment.

With these facilities, the telecommunications company continues to innovate in the sector to provide new opportunities in the development and expansion of services, especially in remote areas with difficult access.

Environmentally friendly technology

The president of the company, Luis Bernardo Pérez, expressed “we continue advancing with a technology that is friendly to the environment, renewable, low-maintenance and low-cost. We started with solar panels in Cuyagua and now we place them in Los Roques, giving continuity to an effort that represents progress and the future for telecommunications”.

According to the information provided by the operator, the installed solution is made up of “photovoltaic modules, batteries and a power conversion system”, with which the company can continue to provide “services in the area even without electricity and open new possibilities to the sector”.

According to Pérez, the use of solar panels in the telecommunications sector, in urban areas, will generate great benefits in the future because they are easy to install since space can be optimized (roof of booths).

On the other hand, it requires little or no use of diesel and the “cost of acquiring, installing and maintaining the solution is lower compared to other backup options when it is installed over time, since it considerably minimizes operating expenses.” Said the president of the company.

M. Rodríguez

Source: bancaynegocios.com

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The board of directors of LG Electronics Inc. (LG) announced its decision to close the solar panel business next June, within the framework of the fluctuations that the global industry has been experiencing such as “the intensification of price competition and the increase in of the cost of raw materials.

The LG company stated that it will continue to sponsor its brand and maintain the technical support and support that current customers require to keep their LG solar panels. Likewise, it pointed out that the production of solar panels will be maintained during the second quarter of the year in order to maintain “an adequate inventory to support future services.”

On the other hand, LG reported that it will offer “transition support and gravity packages in accordance with their permanence in the company” for all those employees who do not continue working with the organization.

Portfolio reorganization

The company is designing plans for the future in which it plans to maximize its “experience in renewable energy to generate value for its customers.” One of the plans of LG’s Business Solutions (BS) Company, responsible for managing the solar panel business, is to reorganize its portfolio based on key pillars such as: information technology (IT) and information visualization (ID).

Among its new objectives are to increase growth in the different lines of “advanced products and personalized services”, concentrating on growing sectors. It also plans to connect with the new era of “sustainability through rapidly evolving products and solutions, including energy storage system (ESS), power management solutions and other yet-to-be-announced advances.”

M. Rodríguez

Source: descifrado.com

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The European Space Agency (ESA) plans to launch, next September, the Exomars mission, which is made up of a surface platform and a rover, called the Rosalind Franklin, in order to search for signs of present or past life in the subsurface of Mars.

The rover, which will be the first European to travel around the red planet, will have innovative Spanish technology “not even NASA and that will travel on the next rover to search for life on Mars.”

The Thales Alenia Space company, which is located in Tres Cantos, Madrid, developed the electronics that will control all the moving parts of the rover, such as the wheels, the solar panels and the camera that will be placed on the outside of the rover, becoming in a real challenge for electronics because they must withstand high and low temperatures.

The first technology in the world

The technological design carried out by the company Thales has become an innovative challenge as it is the first time that the moving parts, called actuator control units (ADE), are located on the outside of the rover. The company’s project manager, José Arnedo, stated: “We are the only ones in the world that have faced the challenge of designing and manufacturing this technology. Today, not even NASA has it.”

According to Arnedo, the electronic modules created by Thales work with a wide range of temperatures that range from 113º C below zero to 85º C. “For seven years we have tested more than a hundred different configurations, assemblies and components.”

He also stressed that the entire system is suitable to withstand high radiation and strong vibrations that will occur at times, such as the launch or deployment of solar panels. The technicians have executed different tests, simulating errors in each of the system components. “Our design is prepared to avoid that if there is a fault, it spreads and damages another area of ​​the circuit,” the head of the project pointed out.

M. Rodríguez

Source: abc.es

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The technology company Tesla announced the arrival of its solar roofs in Europe, a market where this type of technology was quite limited.

With this, the company is committed to the typical installations of photovoltaic panels on the roof, at a time when there are no large generalist companies that invest to offer this technology, beyond Ikea and specialized installers.

Aesthetic solar roofs

The advantage of Tesla’s solar roofs is that they are camouflaged on the roof itself instead of being a solar panel that is placed on top, so aesthetically and functionally it is a very interesting proposal.

At the moment, the list of countries in which solar roofs will be available in their European launch is unknown. The company will bet only on northern Europe initially or also on southern countries, with more hours of sunshine that can take much more advantage of this technology.

For this reason, the irruption of this innovation may attract new players to the European market which, for a while now, began to show great interest in this technology in the residential field.

Source: Doblellave

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