From Harbor to Bike Path: Danish Startup Expands Solar-Powered Safety

Aegir Insights is taking a significant step in its development with the expansion of its Aegir Quant™ software. The tool now goes beyond offshore wind to include onshore wind, solar PV, energy storage, and hybrid energy systems.

With this move, the company shifts from being an offshore wind specialist to offering a full-spectrum decision-support tool across renewable technologies.

According to CEO Scott Urquhart, this expansion provides the market with a unified and standardized way to evaluate projects across technologies; a solution increasingly in demand as energy systems grow more complex and hybrid projects emerge as a key part of future energy infrastructure.

“The next phase of Aegir is about empowering the decision-makers shaping the energy transition”, Scott Urquhart says:

“By broadening Aegir Quant’s capabilities across all major renewable technologies, we’re helping investors and policymakers capture new value and build resilience in the clean-energy system.”

Building on collaboration

Over the past several years, Aegir Insights has established a global position as a provider of investment intelligence to developers, suppliers, investors, and public authorities.

The new version of Aegir Quant™ combines detailed techno-economic modelling with financial analysis, enabling stakeholders to benchmark, optimize, and finance next-generation projects with greater confidence.

The expansion builds on REALISE; a two-year research and development effort carried out in close collaboration with Vattenfall, the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), and Energy Cluster Denmark funded by EUDP, a program under Denmark’s national energy agency.

The partnership helped mature and validate the technology and is a fine example of how collaboration can accelerate progress in the green transition:

The REALISE project provided a solid foundation, with the combined work from industry and academia. We are now collaborating with forward-thinking partners across Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific to apply the expanded Aegir Quant™ capabilities to real-world portfolios — focusing on bankability, portfolio optimization, and system resilience.” says Rikke Winther Nørgaard, CCO at Aegir Insights.

With the updated software, Aegir Insights aims to become the natural reference point for investment decisions in a sector where integration, flexibility, and system understanding are essential — and where hybrid solutions combining wind, solar, and storage may hold the key to higher returns and a more resilient energy system.

“Hybridization is redefining the economics of renewables and strengthening global energy resilience. From the point of starting the REALISE innovation project two years ago, we have seen ever increasing interest and adoption of hybrid renewable + storage projects.As this is just the beginning of the trend, we are excited to continue cooperating closely with developers and investors to improve bankability and returns on hybrid projects”says Scott Urquhart, CEO at Aegir.

The Danish startup Gridturn, which extends the life of used electric car batteries by converting them into certified battery energy storage systems (BESS), has been awarded EUR 75,000 in support from the Women TechEU program.

The support is given to female-led European technology companies with the potential to deliver significant innovation and sustainable transformation – and it is precisely this combination that makes Gridturn CEO Louise Witt Sengeløv happy:

"There is definitely no queue for the ladies' room when you go to energy-related conferences! There are few women in tech, but it is just a barrier that is extra motivating to break through. The support is a nice recognition and very inspiring for further work," she says.

Challenging the status quo

Gridturn's solution reduces waste and the need for new materials. This is what is needed:

"40 percent of the world's conflicts since the 1960s are related to the fight for raw materials. 90 percent of our biodiversity loss is related to raw material extraction, and we recycle far too little. In Europe we are at 12 percent circularity, in Denmark we are down to 4%. We must succeed in changing that," she says:

"At the same time, it is important that we make it economically sustainable. And yes, it may be difficult, but we have to do better and challenge the status quo," she says.

Gridturn's solution is to extend the life of electric car batteries so that they also have value when they are no longer suitable for electric cars:

"The range is crucial for a car battery, and therefore a reduction to 80 or 85 percent capacity effectively helps to retire the battery. But even with 80 percent capacity, the battery can still function and bring value if you place it in a different context. The batteries will do very well in our system. The ideal senior life," she says.

From waste to infrastructure

Gridturn recycles the batteries into battery energy storage systems (BESS), which integrate with existing energy solutions and help optimize consumption and balance the electricity grid.

This results in significant CO₂ savings, and the circularity is optimal: waste is turned into energy infrastructure.

Gridturn is now entering the market with a certified and scalable product line. A significant development for a startup that has been part of the Beyond Beta accelerator course in Energy Cluster Denmark.

“We hold the key to Europe’s future energy independence. By recycling batteries, we create a solution that is both greener, integrable and economically sustainable. I also hope that our journey can inspire more women to start deep tech companies – my two daughters are a big part of the motivation to lead this development,” says Louise Witt Sengeløv.

In addition to the funding, Gridturn will have access to a European mentoring and acceleration program that will strengthen business, technology and scaling.