United Kingdom

An international research team has developed a new way to evaluate the economic value of energy storage technologies. They went beyond pure cost assumptions to consider the benefits that such technologies could bring to energy systems.

South Korean researchers have published a new study on the use of hydrogel to remove gas bubbles in hydrogen production, while Shell has revealed that it will continue with its hydrogen investments in the Netherlands, Vestas, meanwhile, said it will launch a pilot project to use hydrogen in a crew transfer vessel.

Some 66 solar projects secured 15-year contracts-for-difference (CfDs) in a procurement exercise hailed a success despite undershooting its capacity targets.

The results of the latest survey conducted by the UK government show solar maintains its high level of affection among the public, even when respondents were asked their feelings about having a solar field installed nearby.

Machinery company Yuchai expects mass production by the end of 2022, targeting tractors and other heavy commercial vehicles in mountainous or plateau areas. Sunfire is installing a 2.6 MW high-temperature electrolyzer at Neste’s renewable products refinery in Rotterdam, with commissioning expected in early 2023. Meanwhile, hydrogen-based projects in the mobility and transportation sectors are taking off in France, Czech Republic, and the UK.

Any developers bidding to construct solar plants with more than 300 MW of generation capacity in the latest round of the UK’s clean power auction program will have to draw up a supply chain plan showing how they will address matters ranging from skills gaps to new technology to modern slavery.

An international research group has assessed the potential of down-conversion materials to overcome the poor blue response of solar cells. They analyzed how such materials could be used to improve the performance of perovskite-based devices and found that certain advances might be achieved.

India’s Hinduja Group has invested GBP 15 million ($18.4 million) with four other investors in Connected Energy, a developer of energy storage systems based on second-life electric vehicle batteries.

University of Cambridge scientists have created new databases for dye-sensitized and perovskite cells, respectively. They used the ChemDataExtractor text-mining toolkit to collect the data.

A research team has used a molecule known as 2,6-dihydroxy-anthraquinone (DHAQ) to improve the durability of organic aqueous redox flow batteries. They claim the molecule enables a net lifetime that is 17 times longer than past research has shown.