Rapid expansion of utilisation of solar thermal energy for increasing energy efficiency of buildings have been adopted in short/medium- and long-term Energy Strategies of EU countries in line with regional actions with the European climate energy objectives as defined in the European Union’s “20-20-20” targets and in the European Commission’s Energy Roadmap 2050. The overall objective of this project is to develop an innovative high performance and cost effective 2-kWel/18-kWth solar heat and power system for application in individual dwellings and small business residential buildings for on-site electricity and heat generation using solar thermal energy at temperature levels of 250-280 deg.C. The proposed technology will be laboratory validated and undergo filed tests on a demonstration site. The project will utilise the expertise of the consortium members in the development of small Organic Rankine Cycle plants, linear Fresnel mirror solar energy concentrating collectors; advanced heat pipe technologies for the thermal management; high performance Thermal Energy Storage systems on the basis of Phase Change Materials; smart control units for integration of solar thermal and boiler heating circuits. Also participants of this Project are experienced in integration of Renewable energy technologies into buildings, optimisation of complex plants and in analysis and predictions of socio-economic impact and in commercialisation of new Renewable energy products; It is estimated that the proposed technology will deliver 60% of domestic energy requirements and provide 20% reduction in energy costs and Green House Gas (GHG) emissions compared to the best existing low carbon energy technologies. In this way the project will also assist in improving the quality of life of population within and outside the EU and provide clean, efficient and secure energy to dwellings.

Heat exchangers (HXs) are the most critical components of a geothermal power plant specially for organic Rankine cycle (ORC) based plant and the capital cost of heat exchanger accounts for a large proportion of ORC, and even reaches about 86% when air cooled condenser is used. Direct heat exchangers (e.g. geothermal brine to district heating) and ORC HXs such as superheater, preheater, evaporator are in direct contact with the geothermal brine, causing scaling and corrosion at different extent based on the thermophysical condition and chemical composition of the geofluid. To handle corrosion, expensive materials are recommended, but due to lower thermal conductivity and degraded performance over time compel to increases the size of the HXs. Hence, improvements in the antiscaling and anticorrosion properties as well as heat transfer performance of the HX material will lead to smaller, more efficient and less costly systems. GeoHex will rely on the use low cost carbon steel as base material for HX. Through modifying the surface with nano porous coating and controlling the surface chemistry (along with the surface structure), GeoHex will significantly improve the heat transfer performance of single phase and phase change heat transfer process respectively. To attribute the antiscaling and anticorrosion properties, the brine side of the surface will be Ni-P/Ni-P-PTFE duplex coated by electroless method. GeoHex will significantly reduce the cost of ORC plant while lowering the environmental impact. The technology concept can be exploited to build cost efficient HXs for solar thermal energy, heat pumps, absorption chiller, geothermal energy-based district heating cooling system. GeoHex enabled ORC plant, heat pumps and absorption chiller can be used for waste heat recovery application. Hence, GeoHex will significantly contribute to enhance the energy security, decarbonise the economy, establish the EU leadership on renewables.

Waste heat recovery systems can offer significant energy savings and substantial greenhouse gas emission reductions. The waste heat recovery market is projected to exceed €45,0 billion by 2018, but for this projection to materialise and for the European manufacturing and user industry to benefit from these developments, technological improvements and innovations should take place aimed at improving the energy efficiency of heat recovery equipment and reducing installed costs. The overall aim of the project is to develop and demonstrate technologies and processes for efficient and cost effective heat recovery from industrial facilities in the temperature range 70°C to 1000°C and the optimum integration of these technologies with the existing energy system or for over the fence export of recovered heat and generated electricity if appropriate. To achieve this challenging aim, and ensure wide application of the technologies and approaches developed, the project brings together a very strong consortium comprising of RTD providers, technology providers and more importantly large and SME users who will provide demonstration sites for the technologies. The project will focus on two-phase innovative heat transfer technologies (heat pipes-HP) for the recovery of heat from medium and low temperature sources and the use of this heat for; a) within the same facility or export over the fence; b) for generation of electrical power; or a combination of (a) and (b) depending on the needs. For power generation the project will develop and demonstrate at industrial sites the Trilateral Flash System (TFC) for low temperature waste heat sources, 70°C to 200°C and the Supercritical Carbon Dioxide System (sCO2) for temperatures above 200°C. It is projected that these technologies used alone or in combination with the HP technologies will lead to energy and GHG emission savings well in excess of 15% and attractive economic performance with payback periods of less than 3,0 years.

SCO2OP-TES project aims to develop and validate up to TRL5 in UNIGE-TP lab the next generation of Power-to-heat-to-power (P2H2P) energy storage able to guarantee long duration and large scale energy storage to facilitate bulky RES integration in EU energy systems as well as to enhance fossil based power plants flexibilization and facilitate grid integration of EU industries. SCO2OP-TES promotes indeed a new paradigm where industrial WH (even at low temperature like 150-200°C) can be used not only to produce power via ORC or sCO2 Cycles, but to operate P2H2P storage systems more efficiently and grid flexibly. The consortium is composed by innovative SMEs and acknowledged EU RTOs, motivated to realize the first sCO2 PTES pilot plant in Europe. Leveraging experiences from previous EU Funded projects (SHARP-sCO2, CO2OLHEAT, SOLARSCO2OL etc.) as well as from acknowledged RTOs (UNIGE, CVR, KTH, POLIMI, CERTH, UoB) and industrial partners (EDPP, EDP-NEW, HERON,), SCO2OP-TES the potential of “sCO2 BASED CARNOT BATTERIES” based on innovative Molten Salt TES (KYOTO, RPOW) and sCO2 HEXs (AL) and turbomachinery (ENOGIA, SIT) targeting to assess the potential benefit of valorising local WH to optimize round-trip-efficiency and reduce TES size/CAPEX while optimizing local grid/power plant flexibility needs. Via its pilot and replication campaign (involving further CCGTs in Greece and Portugal), SCO2OP-TES promotes the role of P2H2P as key enabling long duration/large scale energy storage technology to boost RES integration in EU energy systems. PC-TECO will develop and validate key enabling technologies (HEXs, turbomachinery, TES) and modelling approaches (Dynamics, thermoeconomic, grid flexibility potential assessment) to make EU leader in the field of P2H2P solutions, boosting WH Recovery as well as fostering a storage solution based on rotating-machine and therefore more grid flexible and environmentally friendly if compared to battery or power-to-H2 storage solutions.

The main objective of MEET is to capitalize on the exploitation of the widest range of fluid temperature in EGS (Enhanced geothermal systems) plants and abandoned oil wells. The aim is to demonstrate the lower cost of small-scale production of electricity and heat in wider areas with various geological environments, in order to support a large increase of geothermal-based production sites in Europe in a near future. In order to boost the market penetration of geothermal power in Europe, MEET project main goal is to demonstrate the viability and sustainability of EGS with electric and thermal power generation in all kinds of geological settings with four main types of rocks: granitic (igneous intrusive), volcanic, sedimentary and metamorphic with various degrees of tectonic overprint by faulting and folding. MEET brings together 16 European partners: Industrials, small and medium enterprises, research institutes and universities, but also several geothermal demonstration sites in Europe located in the various geological environments described above. The project aims at the optimization of the reservoir productivity and stimulation techniques, taking advantage of the existing infrastructures, the understanding of the various geological contexts, necessary to transfer the current known EGS technology to other typical basement rock situations in Europe, the demonstration and optimization of electric and thermal power generation in different geological settings. The assessment of the technical, economic and environmental feasibility of EGS is an integral part of the project, as well as the mapping of the main promising European sites where EGS can or should be implemented in a near future. Thus, MEET will provide a roadmap of next promising sites where demonstrated EGS solutions could be replicated in a near future for electricity and heat production with an evaluation of the technology and its economic feasibility and environmental positive impacts.