ExpectedOutcome:
Renewable energy integration in the industrial sector is a key step in achieving low-carbon production systems. Solar systems for industrial process heat and power are gaining attention towards this goal and have the potential for significant scale up, particularly in areas that combine a large and diverse industrial sector with rich solar resources. Therefore, project results are expected to contribute to the following expected outcome:
- Energy efficient solar resource integration in the industrial sector for achieving low-carbon, emission-free production systems.
Scope:
Industrial processes need considerable amounts of heat and power. Much of the demand for process heat, roughly 50% among the most energy-intensive manufacturing industries, including food and beverages and pulp and paper, occurs at temperatures of 400 °C or less. The Solar Thermal (ST) medium-temperature process heat or cogeneration with electricity can be an effective way to transition to clean energy sources and displace conventional fossil fuel use in industry. On the other side, Photovoltaic (PV) systems convert sun-light to direct current (DC) electricity and the electricity can be used to power or heat industrial processes directly (or via the grid) with electric heating technologies. The two solar technologies (PV and ST) are not competing but can be suitably integrated in an energy system to best benefit of the different features offered by the two options. This high synergy output would allow a useful integration of solar in many industrial processes.
Proposals are expected to:
- Demonstrate a system that considering solar energy's generation potential, topographic characteristics, land-use constraints and system performance, generates solar medium-temperature heat and electricity in a modular, low environmental footprint, low cost and high-efficiency hybrid PV and ST design. Optimize the manufacturing processes based on the process integration concept (presenting opportunities for energy efficiency and heat recovery) and process control, to reduce process power and heat demand to its practical minimum for an energy efficient solar energy supply (possibly including storage) investment.
- Demonstrate the potential of hybrid approaches (PV and ST) that produce heat and electricity to power a broad range of manufacturing end uses. A plan for the exploitation and dissemination of results should include a strong business case and sound exploitation strategy, as outlined in the introduction to this Destination. The exploitation plan should include preliminary plans for scalability, commercialisation, and deployment (feasibility study, business plan) indicating the possible funding sources to be potentially used (in particular the Innovation Fund).
International cooperation with the Mediterranean Region is encouraged.
Specific Topic Conditions:
Activities are expected to achieve TRL 6-7 by the end of the project – see General Annex B.
