• Energy Research
• 2016 close

The aim is to develop and install a pre-commercial wave energy converter (WEC) of 1MW power, the WAVESTAR C6-1000 device, with main targets the device industrialization and the demonstration of wind and wave energy applications. The utility company Parkwind, which develops, builds and operates wind farms in the North Sea, is committed to the achievement of WAVESTAR’s next development stage. Parkwind provides the installation site with grid connection for the first full-scale WAVESTAR WEC, located within a Belgian offshore wind farm. The UPWAVE project consortium has been developed through the establishment of strong synergies and partnerships, by bringing together key European industrial players and European universities represented by wave energy experts whose overall objectives focus on: 1) Reduction of the device’s cost by introducing new design, components and materials. Cost optimization is achieved through new methods on deployment, installation, operation and maintenance. 2) Improvement of the energy efficiency by developing a more advanced Power Take Off based on a second generation digital hydraulic system and innovative control strategy. 3) Integration of wave energy converters in wind farms by considering the interaction between wave and wind devices in terms of operation, cost reduction and maximization of environmental benefits. Public research programs, industrial cooperation and technology transfer from the offshore industry (offshore wind, oil and gas) ensure the development of manufacturing processes, automation and optimisation of the WAVESTAR C6-1000 WEC. New certificates and standards will be made available for the wave energy industry. After the completion of the UPWAVE project, the cost of wave energy will be significantly reduced to a level in line with the cost of offshore wind energy (around 15 c€/kWh). The WAVESTAR C6-1000 demonstrator device will lead to a commercial WEC and a hybrid renewable energy device (wind and wave).

Despite the encouraging scenario of Wide Solar Thermal Electricity market - it is a reality today with 4.9 GW in operation worldwide in 2015, forecasting 260 GW in 2030, 664GW in 2040 and finally to reach a 12% of total electricity generation by 2050 (982 GW) - CSP growth has been slower than expected because several issues have not been overcome yet. It is not as cost-efficient as other technologies making difficult its access to the generation mix. Another not-solved aspect is flexibility, since one of the main issues of the electrical market is the complexity to match the supply and demand curves due to the arbitrariness of the sun. Finally, CSP technology brings environmental issues related to the usage of oil sinthetic as HTF and a meaningful water consumption. In this framework, MSLOOP 2.0 aims to validate a business opportunity consisting of developing a cost effective solar field for CSP Parabolic Trough Power Plants using optimized ternary molten salts as HTF with an innovative hybridization system. The result of the project will be a new solution of CSP commercial plant with at least a 20 % LCOE reduction and flexibility improvement providing firm and dispatchable electricity based on a disruptive and environmentally friendly innovation. MSLOOP 2.0 will ensure the market-drivers acceptance from the beginning of the project in order to launch the solution in open tenders in less of 6 months after the project final, boosting significant contributions to industry, environment and society and that will make possible a deep penetration of CSP plants in the generation mix increasing the share of renewables. In order to achieve this challenge, the MSLOOP 2.0 consortium consists of a multidisciplinary team formed by 5 partners from 3 European Union member countries in strategic fields within solar thermal sector. This composition will boost an innovative development capable of achieving a strong positioning in the market.

This project will combine a Soltropy freeze tolerant solar thermal system with heat storage capability. This will make the overall system more effective and expand the use of solar thermal by making the it more cost effective. The project's main focus is to - 1. Reduce the cost of the system for installations where space heating is required. 2. Reduce the cost of the system for installations where there is no existing hot water tank. 3. Increase the performance of the system.

Solar thermal plants have an important potential to be the energy of the future, but that technology has a very high Levelised Cost of Energy largely due to the high Operation and Maintenance (O&M) cost. To optimize those costs, an intensive control of the Heat Thermal Fluid (HTF) is needed because it presents several problems such as degradation, freezing and overheating. Nowadays only few specific HTF pipe points are controlled, because of the length of it, up to 10 km. The general objective of DIMONTEMP project is the development and further commercialization of an innovative system for DISTRIBUTED MONITORING of HTF temperature through the entire solar field at PTC plants, using optical fiber (FO) allowing a reduction of HTF O&M cost of 38% which represent the 6% of overall O&M cost (120 k€/year). Furthermore, it will enable an 8% increase of production (500k€/year). DIMONTEMP has the following specific objectives in this stage: - Development of a business and exploitation plan adjusted to the technical and commercial features of the project, including the assessment of the cost-effectiveness and exploitation potential. - Design of a commercial feasibility assessment compromising logistics and marketing plan where the market positioning of customers, competitors and technical environments will be analysed. - Detailed analysis of the regulatory standards to be met by the new system. - Complete the patentability study including a freedom to operate analysis in the first-stage targeted markets in order to bolster the IPR strategy for DIMONTEMP system. - Study the main bottlenecks and possible solutions for the commercialisation of the product to reduce risks and tackle de main barriers associated to the introduction on the market - Develop a technical assessment to identify limitations or constraints of the technology and customer’s requirements. Moreover a scalability study if the industrial production process will be carried out

SET-Nav will support strategic decision making in Europe’s energy sector, enhancing innovation towards a clean, secure and efficient energy system. Our research will enable the EC, national governments and regulators to facilitate the development of optimal technology portfolios by market actors. We will comprehensively address critical uncertainties and derive appropriate policy and market responses. Our findings will support the further development of the SET-Plan and its implementation by continuous stakeholder involvement. These contributions of the SET-Nav project rest on three pillars: The wide range of objectives and analytical challenges set out by the call for proposals can only be met by developing a broad and technically-advanced modelling portfolio. Advancing this portfolio and enabling knowledge exchange via a modelling forum is our first pillar. The EU’s energy, innovation and climate challenges define the direction of a future EU energy system, but the specific technology pathways are policy sensitive and need careful comparative evaluation. This is our second pillar. Using our strengthened modelling capabilities in an integrated modelling hierarchy, we will analyse multiple dimensions of impact of future pathways: sustainability, reliability and supply security, global competitiveness and efficiency. This analysis will combine bottom-up ‘case studies’ linked to the full range of SET-Plan themes with holistic ‘transformation pathways’. Stakeholder dialogue and dissemination is the third pillar of SET-Nav. We have prepared for a lively stakeholder dialogue through a series of events on critical SET-Plan themes. The active involvement of stakeholders in a two-way feedback process will provide a reality check on our modelling assumptions and approaches, and ensure high policy relevance. Our aim is to ensure policy and market actors alike can navigate effectively through the diverse options available on energy innovation and system transformation.

The objective of the innovation project is to demonstrate our low-cost and efficient thermal energy storage technology, and introduce the technology to the market. Similar to how electric energy is stored in a battery, inside an EnergyNest storage, thermal energy is stored in a state-of-the-art concrete-like storage medium which is named HEATCRETE® at temperatures of 425 °C or more. In the project, the goal is to demonstrate storing energy from waste heat/power from industrial applications, surplus or curtailed wind energy, and to return the energy as either heat (process steam), electricity or a combination of both (combined heat and power – CHP). The feasibility study (phase 1) is aiming to get an agreement established with at least one commercial partner to build a first demonstrator. Our technology is unique as it is purely based on commodity materials, has a lifetime of over 50 years and can be built anywhere. Most of the components can be sourced locally which reduces the CO2 emissions due to transport. The used materials are non-hazardous and recyclable (steel, concrete and insulation material). Our solution helps to make renewable power generation economically more attractive by better utilizing wind assets through avoiding to waste or curtail energy. This will help to promote growth of renewable energy and to reduce base-load capacity provided by conventional power plants. Our approach is to store and reuse waste heat to produce electricity, process steam or district heating when the demand is not matching the supply.

One problem when we are trying to field super-big wind turbines is that all components involved become super heavy as well, particularly power generators. Heavier power generators require more robust foundation towers for support, which dramatically increase the cost of the entire system. The project is to investigate approaches of lightening up the next generation of utility scale turbines to generate 10 MW peak power. The major aim of this project is to develop a new compact superconductor-based generator able to work in both onshore and offshore wind turbines. Based on previous research work, it was proven that the weight when compared to conventional power generators could be reduced by at least 30% by applying superconductors. However, further work is required to analyse and improve the existing design; such as in regards to the superconducting windings and the cryogenic cooling system. The final objective is to build a 15kW prototype to prove the feasibility of the new lightweight power generator.

This project aims at a cost-effective efficiency enhancement of Si solar cells towards their theoretical maximum of about 29% by moving away from the diffused-junction paradigm. This will reduce the energy fabrication costs on the €/kWh level and thereby increase the competiveness and profitability of photovoltaic systems. Crystalline Si (c-Si) solar cells are since decades the most established photovoltaic technology. Their main advantages are long lifetime (>25 years), non-toxicity and the high abundance of Si. However, for full competitiveness with traditional sources of electricity, important new steps need to be taken to increase their performance. An innovative contacting scheme will be developed that eliminates the main loss mechanisms in c-Si solar cells arising from doped pn-junctions and the direct contact of metal with Si. The novel contacts will be broadband optically transparent, generate a highly passivating and carrier-selective interface to Si and will enable solar cells without doped pn-junctions. No cost-intensive patterning technique is required for the device fabrication and parasitic optical absorption, as present in Si heterojunction solar cells, will be minimized. The novel contacts consist of three layers: a 1-2 nm thick tunnelling SiO2 layer for chemical passivation of the Si surface, a wide-bandgap conductive metal oxide layer providing a specific energy band alignment, and a highly conductive transparent oxide (TCO) for carrier transport to external metal contacts and optimum light coupling into the solar cell device. The contacts will be used for the fabrication of Si solar cells which are devoid of doped pn-junctions and achieve both high open-circuit voltages and photo currents. The structure of the photovoltaic device will be optimized for the application in regular 1-sun modules and for both III-V/Si and perovskite/Si tandem cell applications with potential for flat-plate efficiencies well above 30%.

PROBLEM: 1.1 billion people, most of whom live in developing regions of Asia and Africa, lack access to electricity. The primary light source for them are kerosene lamps, which are not only costly, but also has negative impact on human health, resulting in illness and even mortalities. Existing solar-powered products are too expensive for households with a $20 monthly income. Booming trends of mobile subscriptions and smartphone adoption in developing countries mean there is also a growing need to charge the phones. SOLUTION: Solet Technics has developed a prototype of a mobile solar power generator, PAWAME which offers a cheap and reliable access to electricity for off-grid households. The company is planning to distribute PAWAME solution using local agents, and infrastructure, payment system and brand recognition of Telcos, which enables fast market uptake and scaling of the product. It will also be easy and convenient for the user to pay for electricity via phone. The ‘rent-to-own’ model makes the product accessible to low income households: no upfront investments needed. User-friendly and unique product design enables simple usage for the end-user. Customer can login to see his payment plan information, usage data, etc. Unique product features also include theft protection – PAWAME sends its location and if somebody tries to force to open it, it is remotely notified and can be tracked and traced all the time. The device has been tailored to fit to the needs of both end-user and Telcos. NEXT STEPS: Thorough market analysis and an elaboration of a business plan is needed in order to define strategic commercialization. This feasibility study will be a crucial step towards commercialization of Solarize. Further in the future, Solet Technics plans to bring PAWAME to industrial readiness and maturity for introduction to the global market, providing solar electricity to more than 200 thousand households and generating profit of 3 million euros by the year 2020