New Energy Storage concept for high efficient CSP Plants
Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) has been considered for years as one of the most promising technologies for the production of clean energy. However, some problems arise from the discrepancy between the availability of the resource and the demand, yielding a low dispatchability. NEWSOL project addresses the specific challenge towards high efficiency solar energy harvesting to increase the dispatchability of new and existing solar power plants.
The main objective is to develop advanced materials solutions, like heat thermal fluid, sensible and latent energy storage media and insulating materials, and optimally combine them into two innovative thermal energy storage (TES) architectures:
- Single Thermocline Tank, (combining sensible and latent heat up to 550ºC), to substitute the commercially available 2-tanks system in new plants.
- Concrete module tank (sensible heat up to 550ºC). design to provide a flexible and low-cost option for increasing TES capacity of existing thermal power plants
The scope to fulfill the challenge is to validate three new advanced materials: 1) High thermal performance concrete (including carbon nanostructures), 2) Molten Salts (including nanoparticles), 3) Filler Material re-usage. In this line, the two TES architectures resulting from NEWSOL project will be built and tested at prototype level at Évora Molten Salts Platform in Portugal.
From the demonstration of the two TES concept solutions, six high relevant impacts are expected: a) Reduced LCOE, 10-12 cEuro/kWh via higher material performance, b) New designs that enable a reduction of CAPEX and OPEX, c) Increase material understanding enabling long term performance, d) Deployment of high tech monitoring technologies included in the demo activities, e) Environmental re-usage of materials, and f) Higher world market penetration of European materials supply sector.
NEWSOL is an innovation project receiving the support of the European Commission under the Programme Horizon2020. It addresses the specific challenge towards high efficiency solar energy harvesting by advance materials solutions and architectures that are in line with those specified in Strategic Energy Technology plan (SET-plan) of the European Commission.
Duration
From 2017-01-01 to 2020-06-30
Partners
- UNIVERSIDADE DE EVORA (coordinator)
- ACCIONA
- AGENCIA ESTATAL CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS
- SECIL-COMPANHIA GERAL DE CAL E CIMENTO, SA
- DEUTSCHES ZENTRUM FUER LUFT - UND RAUMFAHRT EV
- Laboratorio Nacional de Energia e Geologia I.P.
- Yara International ASA
- STIFTELSEN SINTEF
- ASOCIACION DE INVESTIGACION METALURGICA DEL NOROESTE SESTOSENSOR SRL
- ACCIONA
- INSTITUTE OF APPLIED ECONOMICS APS
- EIDGENOESSISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE ZURICH
- ACCIONA