Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SOLARX (Dispatchable concentrated Solar-to-X energy solution for high penetration of renewable energy)
Période du rapport: 2022-11-01 au 2024-04-30
In light of the ongoing climate crisis, clean and renewable energy systems (RES) must be significantly advanced to soon dominate the energy mix, and sector coupling should be encouraged to replace fossil fuels with RES for electricity, transport, industry and other uses. For the electricity sector, one of the major challenges involves the variability and lack of control with regard to energy generation with increasing share of intermittent wind and solar energy.
SOLARX aims to be a game-changing RES by tackling these issues through the integrated and synergetic management of a single facility based on a solar tower that produces heat, electricity or H2 depending on demands and prices. Furthermore, SOLARX will provide dispatchability and flexibility, maximising the owner benefits, making the solution attractive for investors, grid operators, industries and citizens, and enabling the green transition to high RES penetration scenarios.
The main goal of SOLARX is to demonstrate the technical and economic reliability of the synergetic efficient production of heat, electricity and H2 from solar resource in a single facility at the laboratory scale. This demonstration will consider real-time energy demands and market prices for a wide range of locations and application scenarios, within the framework of future implementation in a carbon-neutral, and even carbon-negative, energy system.
Technical, economic, environmental and social assessments are ongoing in order to analyse the SOLARX solution in a holistic way. The LCA study includes the identification of measures to promote the alignment of SOLARX with circular economy principles.
SOLARX aims to be a game-changing RES by tackling these issues through the integrated and synergetic management of a single facility based on a solar tower that produces heat, electricity or H2 depending on demands and prices. Furthermore, SOLARX will provide dispatchability and flexibility, maximising the owner benefits, making the solution attractive for investors, grid operators, industries and citizens, and enabling the green transition to high RES penetration scenarios.
The main goal of SOLARX is to demonstrate the technical and economic reliability of the synergetic efficient production of heat, electricity and H2 from solar resource in a single facility at the laboratory scale. This demonstration will consider real-time energy demands and market prices for a wide range of locations and application scenarios, within the framework of future implementation in a carbon-neutral, and even carbon-negative, energy system.
Technical, economic, environmental and social assessments are ongoing in order to analyse the SOLARX solution in a holistic way. The LCA study includes the identification of measures to promote the alignment of SOLARX with circular economy principles.
Three innovative Key Technology Elements of the project are currently under development.
KTE1 - Smart solar resource management: Great advances have been made in the development of the smart solar resource management. The parametrised optical model, DNI now-casting method and Solar management adaptive strategy are defined and will be validated experimentally. These works integrate the technical requirements from each receiver. These models are being integrated into a parametrised electrical/thermal/chemical model and in tecno-economic assessment tools such as EnergyPro and Hydesign. A huge work to define the adequate interfaces between the models has been implemented (Figure 1) and will allow to assess the SOLARX impact in a large variety of applications (Figure 2), locations and regulation scenarios. First simulations of simplified configurations have been implemented (Figure 3). These simulations integrate the demands and spot prices in real-time to control the production of the different energy vectors.
KTE2 - CPV receiver with high efficiency: The design of the CPV receiver and its components (CPV cells, cooling method and electrical configuration) has been launched, allowing to maximise the CPV efficiency through the optimization of the active area and the reduction of the mismatch losses. Mock-up devices of these components have been created. A new concept of the CPV receiver, in which the electrical interconnection is facilitated through the cooling device to avoid optical losses, has been submitted for a patent application.
KTE3 - H2 bi-energy receiver for Carbon-negative or Carbon-neutral Hydrogen: The design and modelling of the microreactor blocks have been launched. The bi-energy configuration has been discarded due to difficulties for its implementation and its negative impact on the thermal efficiency. Also, different configurations have been studied for the System-level design of H2 generation, including CCUS and gas management.
KTE1 - Smart solar resource management: Great advances have been made in the development of the smart solar resource management. The parametrised optical model, DNI now-casting method and Solar management adaptive strategy are defined and will be validated experimentally. These works integrate the technical requirements from each receiver. These models are being integrated into a parametrised electrical/thermal/chemical model and in tecno-economic assessment tools such as EnergyPro and Hydesign. A huge work to define the adequate interfaces between the models has been implemented (Figure 1) and will allow to assess the SOLARX impact in a large variety of applications (Figure 2), locations and regulation scenarios. First simulations of simplified configurations have been implemented (Figure 3). These simulations integrate the demands and spot prices in real-time to control the production of the different energy vectors.
KTE2 - CPV receiver with high efficiency: The design of the CPV receiver and its components (CPV cells, cooling method and electrical configuration) has been launched, allowing to maximise the CPV efficiency through the optimization of the active area and the reduction of the mismatch losses. Mock-up devices of these components have been created. A new concept of the CPV receiver, in which the electrical interconnection is facilitated through the cooling device to avoid optical losses, has been submitted for a patent application.
KTE3 - H2 bi-energy receiver for Carbon-negative or Carbon-neutral Hydrogen: The design and modelling of the microreactor blocks have been launched. The bi-energy configuration has been discarded due to difficulties for its implementation and its negative impact on the thermal efficiency. Also, different configurations have been studied for the System-level design of H2 generation, including CCUS and gas management.
The technical advances on each KTE and the development of the economic simulations are aligned with the foreseen impacts of the project:
• Share of SOLARX in the electricity, SHIP and renewable H2 global market by 2050 of 2-5%, 2-5% and 1-3%, respectively
• Potential of reduction of GHG emissions by more than 1.5 GtCO2/yr
Further works on different areas (experimental validations, regulation, standards,…), planned during the next months, will allow to refine these impacts.
• Share of SOLARX in the electricity, SHIP and renewable H2 global market by 2050 of 2-5%, 2-5% and 1-3%, respectively
• Potential of reduction of GHG emissions by more than 1.5 GtCO2/yr
Further works on different areas (experimental validations, regulation, standards,…), planned during the next months, will allow to refine these impacts.