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Extreme weather conditions (i.e. strong and unsteady winds, icing, etc.) - that countries such as Iceland and the other four Nordics (Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland), the UK, Ireland, Canada´s Prairies, Northern US, Russia, and Nigeria along with high altitude sites face - make traditional wind turbines (horizontal-axis) to spin out of control resulting in catastrophic system failure in the first year of operation. As a result, these locations needed a different kind of wind technology capable of working over a wide production range (whether it’s in the stormy afternoon, in hurricanes or on calm and icy winter nights in the range of -10 to -30 °C) with mimimum maintenance. IceWind has therefore identified a business opportunity for a rugged and durable VAWT intended for extreme wind conditions with a power capacity range between 300W to 1,000W and focused on on-site small applications that require a continuous 100% green energy source of reduced carbon footprint and will bring down energy bills of customers through self-generation and consumption. The excellent match of aerodynamics and materials give our NJORD turbines unique features such as optimal structural stability, strength, and hence durability to withstand the most extreme wind conditions. Our VAWT can produce electricity at very low wind speeds, as well as spin elegantly, non-stop and noiseless at high speed winds. As for our commercial strategy, we plan to respond: 1) directly to individual end-users of isolated areas for residential applications (i.e. cabins, homes, and small farms) mainly in Iceland and other EU countries (i.e. the other four Nordics, the UK, and Ireland) and 2) owners of telecom towers worldwide. Expected total net income from selling NJORD turbines after deducting costs of purchase, manufacture and distribution fees amounts to a cumulative 10.32M€ along with the creation of over 140 skilled works in IceWind and partners worldwide for the 2020-2024 period.

PLASMIONICO is an innovative proposal aiming at advancing sustainable energy production by developing a "cold-cathode" thermionic generator as key component of novel photovoltaic/thermoelectric (PV/TE) hybrid devices to outperform the solar cell and thermoelectric generator working separately. The cold cathode, instead of being brought to extremely high temperatures, produces the emission of electrons by the absorption of infrared (IR) photons in the unused region of the solar spectrum below the PV cell bandgap. The IR photons will launch plasmons at a nanostructured metallic cathode, which upon relaxation will generate a photocurrent. A great advantage is that plasmon-resonance driven thermionic emission is not restricted to a particular class of materials, working for Si-based devices as well as for organic (soft and flexible) materials, since the cathode temperature is that of a working solar cell. Research activities will span the whole added-value chain from fundamental studies of materials for thermionic generation, including the optimization of plasmonic nanostructures, reaching higher TRLs by realization of a thermionic demonstrator. PLASMIONICO would contribute to the current energy challenge, a priority in both the EU and ICMAB-CSIC research agendas. The proposal possesses high interdisciplinary character by merging activities in physics, chemistry, materials science and device technology, which together with the unique network of international partners will contribute to boost the track records and develop the career of the applicant.

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.

The goal of this project is to help find the rules for a domain-wall engineering that optimizes photovoltaic efficiency of potential future-generation ferroelectric solar cells. The material to be studied is BiFeO3 as the most promising photovoltaic ferroelectric material known. Does the photovoltaic effect in BiFeO3 occur at the domain walls or in the bulk? What does it take a domain-wall to conduct electrons? The project aims at establishing the necessary conditions for electric fields and electrical conductivity at ferroelectric domain walls. Since experimental evidence is inconclusive, state-of-the-art ab initio methods will be applied. Electric fields have a long spatial range, so we will go beyond the standard supercell approach to obtain the spatial gradient of the band structure at the domain wall, needed to obtain charge-carrier distributions and electric fields. The Green's-function method for electronic quantum transport will be used for this purpose because it is suitable for extended, non-periodic systems. We will obtain the electrical conductivity as a function of the domain-wall type, structure, and purity. Conclusions for the role of the domain walls in BiFeO3 will be generalized as far as possible in order to apply them to other ferroelectric semiconductors as well. The applicant will receive training in state-of-the-art electronic-transport calculations by the host. In turn, the applicant will strengthen the host’s activities in the field of modelling optical properties of semiconductors. The project is positioned where fundamental condensed-matter physics meets applied solar-cell research. It is expected to advance the frontier of knowledge in basic research and to lay the ground for further research on ferroelectric photovoltaics. It is a contribution to the efforts of the European Union to develop innovative solutions for a sustainable energy supply that help achieve independence of fossil energy.

Since 2007, the initial deployment of CSP/STE in Spain has brought the European STE sector to be a worldwide technology leader. But the further deployment has been hindered in Europe since 2013 due to the retroactive changes in the investment conditions in Spain. To unlock this situation, the EC has launched in 2015 a dedicated Initiative – Initiative for Global Leadership in Concentrated Solar Power (CSP). This Initiative, focusing on 2 targets (a cost reduction target and an innovation target), was adopted in 2016 within the SET-Plan structures. A working group gathering representatives from several SET-Plan countries and the STE stakeholders from both industry and research sectors was set up to define a corresponding Implementation Plan (IP), which was officially adopted in June 2017, including 12 R&D action line and the implementation of new innovative, so-called First-Of-A-Kind (FOAK) plants. Thus, as response to the call H2020- LC-SC3-JA-2-2018, this project proposal aims at supporting the full implementation of the a.m. Initiative taking into consideration the political, legislative and institutional as well as the market backgrounds put in perspective to the situation of the STE sector in 2018 – 2 years after the “Initiative” was presented and the corresponding “IP” adopted by the SET-Plan Steering Group. Building bridges to other ongoing projects (MUSTEC, SMARTSPEND, etc), the project will propose solutions and pathways for relevant countries to overcome the main shortcomings of current national strategies related to STE that are: a) for the industry the framework conditions for procurement of manageable RES, and b) for the R&I sector, the extension to more public funding agencies and other sources for the funding of a.m. R&I projects. This will result in national country reports and events as well as an EU-wide cooperation report/event to be extensively covered by national mainstream media and supported by a strong dissemination and political communication campaign.

The overall objective of the SOLARGE45 project is to accelerate the market introduction of a new Concentration PhotoVoltaic (CPV) technology, called the MF45 System, which yields the highest efficiency all year round, without giving up simplicity, and therefore enables the lowest manufacturing costs. The MF45 System will be capable to convert the equivalent of 45% of the direct sun light into clean electricity at costs equivalent to those of conventional sources (CO2 intensive). This represents conversion efficiency increases of 30% and 60% relative to other commercial CPV systems and FP systems, respectively. As result of the SOLARGE45 project, LPI aims to become a worldwide reference manufacturer and supplier of a novel CPV System able to generate profits in large-scale utility solar plants, and without the support of government policies backing up clean electricity. This will bring a positive impact in the challenge stressed in the 'Secure, Clean and Efficient Energy' Work Programme: low-cost, low carbon electricity supply. Through the Phase 1 of the SME Instrument LPI will be able to assess the industrial and commercial feasibility of the business innovation project proposed for introducing the MF45 System into the market. The specific objectives that must be achieved in the course of the Feasibility Study are the following: - To define the MF45 System specifications needed to assure long-term-performance under real operation conditions to guarantee product bankability and standard certification - To assess different product-development and industrial process pilot plant alternatives with optimal quality within cost and reliability balance - To identify the specific operational and financial resources and/or partners to cover the whole MF45 System manufacturing and commercialisation - To assess the feasibility of the preliminary Market Strategy and Commercialisation Plan, by an in-depth study of the MF45 System market size and barriers.

One of the main wind market trends is to increase the height of wind towers, the power of generators and the blades size in order to take full advantage of available wind resources and thus improve the LCOE. However, such increase has led to a number of limitations, both technical and economic, in the installation of towers over 120 m, and in the transportation of blades of over 60m length. This result in a bottleneck that paralyses this market trend. NABRAWIND TECHNOLOGIES, S.L has developed an integrated solution to cover those two of the most critical needs demanded from the wind market: NABRAWIND has developed NABRALIFT®, a brand-new innovative steel frame tower, reliable and with a competitive cost system that combined with the patented self-erecting system enables assembling, nacelle included, without any limitation in height and with complete independence from auxiliary cranes, thanks to a new lifting concept system based on hydraulic lifting mechanism which allows the system to operate from the ground. Related to blades: NABRAWIND has developed a reliable and durable segmented blade solution, NABRAJOINT®, this technology permits assembling two or more parts of wind blades allowing them to be transported separately and assembled on site. The adoption of the NABRAJOINT® system and modular blades will allow transporting blades over 75m. The overall objective is the validation and demonstration of the functionality and reliability of NABRALIFT® and NABRAJOINT® in real working conditions (200m tower to be built in Navarra, Spain, with Acciona as promoter and 4.5MW WTG from NORDEX) and the introduction of both systems in the main global reference markets of wind power energy (Europe, US and China).

Roughly 40% of the current global energy demand is consumed in commercial and residential buildings. Thanks to advances in technology, Building Integrated PhotoVoltaics (BIPV) have emerged, enabling all buildings to become electricity producers and strive towards self-sustainability. Due to stringent energy efficiency norms in the EU, demand for BIPV products is soaring: PV incorporated in shells of multi-story buildings is required for supplying these high rise structures with energy. But also other artificial structures, e.g. sound barriers along highways, shall be used for energy provision, without further impact on the environment. Yet, truly integrated and aesthetic BIPV modules are currently neither available in commercial volumes nor at sustainable costs. Prices of products with still limited adaptability hinder the actual market growth. crystalsol addresses these shortcomings with a patented and entirely new type of cost-efficient, flexible and transparent PV technology where advantages of an efficient and stable monocrystalline absorber and low cost roll-to-roll (R2R) module production are combined. Due to the reason that crystalsol is able to produce semi-finished modules that allow full integration into building elements without any expensive and complex integration steps, BIPV products can pricewise finally compete with standard building shell elements (like facades without PV). This offers a huge competitive advantage, resulting in an enormous potential in the BIPV market. This Feasibility Study (cs-BIPV-FS) will bring crystalsol closer to the market entry stage. It will be a first step towards full commercialisation before upscaling the company’s operations and production processes. The cs-BIPV-FS project will help to analyse and conclude the technical feasibility and commercial potential of the ground-breaking BIPV technology, resulting in advancing the innovative technological concept into a credible business case.

The European energy market is rapidly changing under the influence of three megatrends that currently drive the transformation of energy sectors worldwide: decarbonization, decentralization and digitalization. These megatrends have stimulated several technical and social innovations in the energy sector, which offer alternatives to the traditional business model of large centralized energy utilities and have the potential to further the goals of the Energy Union. One such example of social innovation in the energy sector are new forms of local energy communities that generate, store and use energy in a collaborative way and hence allow consumers to get involved in the production and storage of energy (“prosumage”) at the local level. New clean energy communities in a changing European energy system (NEWCOMERS) are often democratic and participatory in nature and at the same time characterized by unconventional alliances of actors, the use of innovative and smart technologies and new forms of value creation for their members and society. The NEWCOMERS project aims to investigate which regulatory, institutional and social conditions, at the national and local level, are favorable for the emergence and operation of new clean energy communities. Furthermore, NEWCOMERS will explore how these new clean energy communities meet their members’(i.e. citizens’ and consumers’) needs better than more traditional energy services business models and whether they have the potential to increase the affordability of energy, their members’ energy literacy and efficiency in the use of energy, as well as their members’ and society’s support for the clean energy transition. The ultimate goal of the NEWCOMERS project is to identify the types of clean energy communities that perform best along a variety of dimensions, such as resilience, citizen engagement, security, efficiency and affordability, while being based on sustainable business models that have the potential to be scaled-up.

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