United Kingdom

Samsung and the city of Oxford in the UK have announced the trial of a neighborhood heat pump scheme in Rose Hill, Oxford. The project aims to connect communities to local installers, helping to remove key barriers to heat pump uptake, including cost. Up to 150 Samsung air-source heat pumps will be installed at a reduced price of GBP 2,600 ($3,185) each.

Energy Systems Catapult has released interim data from air-source heat pump field monitoring in the United Kingdom between November 2020 and August 2022. Figures show that heat pumps are three times more efficient than gas boilers and that their median coefficient of performance (COP) on cold days is 2.44, compared to 2.80 year round.

York Minster, one of the largest cathedrals in Northern Europe, has secured approval to install 199 solar modules on its rooftop. The system will generate at least 75,000 kWh per year and will be paired with batteries.

In its bid to develop fuel cells for aircraft with over 100 seats within 24 months, ZeroAvia has revealed record-breaking hydrogen fuel cell performance tests. Meanwhile, Universal Hydrogen and local partners are teaming up to build hydrogen infrastructures for aviation in Japan amid a push towards hydrogen infrastructure and mobility.

Netze BW has increased the amount of hydrogen it is injecting into the regional grid of Oehringen, in the southwest of Germany, from 20% to 30%. pv magazine spoke with the project leader, Heike Grüner, about the next phases of the project.

University of Cambridge researcher Dr Virgil Andrei sits down with pv magazine  to discuss an innovative ultra-thin film device capable of generating clean synthetic fuels while floating merrily on the River Cam. 

United Kingdom-based Above’s founder and CEO Will Hitchcock sits down with pv magazine to discuss the solar industry’s growing demand for drone-based aerial inspection and data analysis, the game changing utility of digital twins, and what the future holds for autonomous drone programs. 

UK researchers have proposed the use of photovoltaic-thermal energy for desalination purposes, via an approach based on synergistic electro-thermal coupling mechanisms. They have found that some system configurations could offer a lower levelized cost of desalinated water, in addition to higher efficiencies.

When it comes to gravity batteries, pumped-hydro storage is the gold standard, but its cost and topography-specific limitations are driving innovations ranging from freight-train braking to super-dense liquids. We consider whether any of the new technologies can punch above their weight.

An international group of researchers has designed a new hybrid photovoltaic-liquid air energy storage (PV-LAES) system. Their economic evaluation for the proposed 2 MW PV-LAES project showed that the investment payback period can be within 10 years, and the accumulated net profit can reach up to $2.2 million from a life-cycle perspective.