Denmark

An international research team claims to have achieved greater stability in organic solar cells made with an electron transport layer doped with two-dimensional titanium carbide (Ti3C2Tx) – also known as “2D MXenes.” They used green solvents and an MXenes material known as titanium carbide (Ti3C2Tx).

The Danish Energy Agency says it dished out a total of DKK 4.2 million ($61,9542) in grant funding this year to nine local energy communities and projects supporting renewable energy. Projects include an energy community start-up guide for rural environmentalists to an energy community feasibility study in a decades-old garden association.

Denmark-based slot-die coating equipment manufacturer FOM Technologies raised DKK 43.60 million ($6.3 million) to finance the next stage of growth, which includes expansion of sales in the United States.

GM and Autocar Industries have agreed to jointly develop hydrogen-powered heavy-duty vehicles using GM’s Hydrotec power cubes, while European lawmakers have reached a provisional agreement on common market rules for renewable gases and hydrogen.

UK-based researchers have developed a novel method to estimate the amount of defrost cycles a heat pump will experience in the winter and how much energy it would require to implement the cycles. The results of their simulation showed a strong relationship between the number of defrost cycles and the ambient temperature.

Scientists in Spain have proposed to combine anaerobic digestion plants with photovoltaic-thermal panels and have found that this combination may achieve an LCOE of $0.045/kWh across several locations in Europe and North America.

Brazil has announced a $3.6 billion hydrogen production plan, Adnoc has launched a green hydrogen refueling-station pilot in the United Arab Emirates, and the European Union has moved forward on the establishment of EU-wide hydrogen rules.

Germany, in collaboration with Italy, has revealed plans to import hydrogen from Northern Africa.

Danish researchers investigated how solar-powered Carnot batteries could be integrated into decommissioned coal power plants to produce clean energy. They found that a 300 MW retrofitted plant coal plant with 1.37 GWh of thermal storage capacity has the potential for annual net power production of up to 1,150 GWh for 12 h storage at a levelized cost of energy of €88.09 ($95.97)/MWh.

Dutch company Gasunie will collaborate with two German transmission system operators (TSOs) and one Danish TSO to import green hydrogen from the Netherlands and Denmark. Meanwhile, French independent power producer (IPP) HDF Energy commits to co-develop project in Morocco, and two Japanese companies move ahead with hydrogen production plant in Malaysia.