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Thermal Solar Goes Where PVs Can’t

Cars That Think

Global solar energy supplies are growing rapidly, with nearly 10 times as much solar capacity installed today as there was a decade ago. But even as the glossy rectangles become increasingly cheaper and ubiquitous, solar PV alone can't solve the nagging question: What to do when the sun isn't shining? It's flexible.

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Thermal Solar Goes Where PVs Can’t

Cars That Think

Global solar energy supplies are growing rapidly, with nearly 10 times as much solar capacity installed today as there was a decade ago. But even as the glossy rectangles become increasingly cheaper and ubiquitous, solar PV alone can't solve the nagging question: What to do when the sun isn't shining? It's flexible.

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Estonian startup UP Catalyst secures €2.09M; sustainable carbon nanomaterials and graphite from CO2

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The pre-seed round was led by Sunly, a developer of wind and solar parks in the Baltics and Poland, and joined by Scottish Baltic Invest, an investment company linked to Interconnect Product Assembly (IPA), which specializes in the production of electro-mechanical solutions; and Little Green Fund that focuses on investments in cleantech innovation.

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ARPA-E announces $12M for five projects in nuclear materials science; first OPEN+ cohort

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The OPEN+ advanced nuclear projects are: Additive Manufacturing of Spacer Grids for Nuclear Reactors, Carnegie Mellon University, $1,000,000. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, in collaboration with Cornell University, will use advanced microfabrication technology to fabricate and scale low-cost, high-power multi-beam ion accelerators.

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ARPA-E awarding up to $24M to 10 projects to support advanced nuclear power plants

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A quantitative assessment will be done on the continuous load following capability of the proposed system that would be capable of sharing the grid with substantial renewable resources such as wind and solar. North Carolina State University: Development of a Nearly Autonomous Management and Control System for Advanced Reactors – $3,386,834.

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ARPA-E awarding $30M to 12 hybrid solar projects; conversion and storage

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Under the FOCUS program, projects will develop advanced solar converters that turn sunlight into electricity for immediate use, while also producing heat that can be stored at low cost for later use as well as innovative storage systems that accept both heat and electricity from variable solar sources. Arizona State University.

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Convert Oil Wells to Solve the Solar Storage Problem

Cars That Think

One of the main impediments to harnessing solar energy is storage. Solar batteries work as a short-term solution, but not when it comes to long-term storage or to power, say, an entire city. Solar energy and oil wells might sound like an odd combination, but the principle is similar to how geothermal energy would be harnessed.

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