In the context of ongoing global warming, solar energy has many advantages. It is renewable. And it does not emit greenhouse gases. But its intermittency is a challenge to engineers. Researchers are now proposing a solution that could eventually allow us to free ourselves from the weather to produce electricity from the sun.
At a given point, the sunshine varies over days, months, seasons and even years. And with it, the potential for generating electricity from solar panels. In a sometimes considerable way, we learn today from a study carried out by Columbia University researchers (United States). Depending on their model, some regions might have to overcome some sort of “energy droughts” which could last up to eight consecutive months. Situations that batteries alone will not be able to compensate for. “We must consider other ways of producing and storing electricity”say the researchers in a statement from columbia university.
From Chalmers University researchers (Sweden) precisely present what could become one of these other means. “A radically new way of producing electricity fromenergy solarexplains Kasper Moth-Poulsen, director of research, in a communicated. We can use solar energy to generate electricity regardless of the weather report and geographic location. Without causingemissions carbon dioxide (CO2), sure. »
The proposed technology is based on the Molecular Solar Thermal Energy Storage Systems (Most) developed by Chalmers teams. At the heart of the system, a molecule that changes shape when exposed to sunlight. A previous development had already attracted attention. It already made it possible to capture solar energy, store it for several years and then release it. But in the form of heat.
Still a long way to go
Now, researchers promise to transform this stored energy in electricity. By connecting the molecule to a generator thermoelectric. A generator that takes the form of an ultra-thin chip. And which could thus be integrated into many electronic devices, from our smartphones to our connected watches or even to listeners.
The researchers tested the concept by charging molecules with solar energy in the United States and then sending them to colleagues in China. There the energy could be released and converted into electricity. And even if the quantities of electricity thus produced for the moment remain low, “these results show that the principle is valid and that it seems promising”.
As you will have understood, there is still a long way to go before we can imagine supplying our homes with electricity in this way throughout a year. Researchers are already working to streamline the system. They want to increase the amount of heat and electricity that can be extracted. They also want to ensure the profitability of the system so that it can ultimately benefit as many people as possible.
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