Denmark

Danish researchers report that treating non-fullerene acceptor-based organic solar cells with vitamin C provides an antioxidant activity that alleviates the degradative processes arising from heat, light, and oxygen exposure. The cell achieved a power conversion efficiency of 9.97 %, an open-circuit voltage of 0.69 V, a short-circuit current density of 21.57 mA/cm2, and a fill factor of 66%.

Reel, a spinoff of the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), has raised €5 million ($5.4 million) of seed capital to enhance its products and expand internationally. It is offering customized fixed price contracts to businesses based on solar and wind power purchase agreements (PPAs).

Mitsubishi HC Capital, a Japanese investment firm, has become the second-largest shareholder in Danish renewable energy developer European Energy A/S by acquiring the equivalent of 75 million shares. Knud Erik Andersen, the CEO of European Energy, says the transaction more than triples the company’s equity.

A number of hydrogen projects are moving forward in the United States, Germany and Denmark. In other developments, the German state of Saxony is teaming up with other partners, including the Czech Republic, to set up a hydrogen network in Eastern Europe.

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.