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SunOyster cooling (SOcool)

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - SOcool (SunOyster cooling (SOcool))

Berichtszeitraum: 2019-09-01 bis 2021-10-31

The Project SOcool wants to minimize the consumption of fossil fuels and protect the climate.

The overall objective of the project SunOyster cooling (SOcool) is to bring the combination of the concentrating solar technology SunOyster and of thermal chillers to commercial distribution. The SunOyster is an innovative technology tracking the sun bi-axially in order to generate in the hybrid receiver electricity and heat at the same time. The temperature can be up to 170°C so that the heat can be used for many applications. A potentially interesting application for warm countries in the sun belt of the world is to convert the heat during summer into cold through thermal chillers. The electricity, heat and cold produced by the SunOyster shall be in sunny countries cheaper than (unsubsidized) electricity from the grid, than heat from oil or gas and than cold produced with (unsubsidized) electricity.

During the 50 months of project duration, significant progress was made. We brought SunOyster 16 from TRL 6 to TRL 9: We
- established a pilot production including a solar simulator and a concept for future automation;
- shipped or installed 11 SunOysters of the pre-series and 5 SunOyster Model 2.0 and improved the reliability of operation and design;
- completed the following certifications or similar assessments:
- life cycle assessment (LCA) for the product with positive results;
- Solar Keymark certification of the SunOyster 16 heat;
- Inscription into the BAFA list of products eligible for grants;
- CE certificate;
- ISO 9001 quality management certificate;
- completed the demo projects SOcool Office (SO16 hybrid with silica gel adsorption chiller), SOcool Freeze (SO16 hybrid with electric ice machine) and SOcool Pool (SO16 heat with zeolithe adsorption chiller and battery);
- improved the worldwide sourcing of components;
- concluded approx. a dozen international co-operation contracts regarding the SunOyster distribution;
- did successful PR work sparking interest in the SunOyster;
- were awarded three patent families.
During the first year of the two-year project, we have performed the following works:

- Work Package (WP) 1 - Production: Established a production facility for manufacturing the core of our technology, the hybrid receiver. In that facility we produced the required receivers for our 13 demo machines for which the components have been manufactured by third parties.

- WP 2 Demo SunOysters and Certification: Installed so far 5 demo machines in Northern Germany, Brussels, Cologne and two in Northern China. Started monitoring their reliability and performance.

Out of These, the machine in Cologne is for certification purposes. Here, TÜV Rheinland is working as a subcontractor on the certification of the SunOyster according to IEC 62108, ISO 9806 and other Standards.

- WP 3 Demo Projects: Installed the first demo Project SOcool Office, consisting of a SunOyster, a heat storage, an adsorption chiller with heat rejection unit, a cold storage and a fan coil for cold Distribution. Started monitoring the Performance - works well.

-WP 4 Supply Chain: Identified cheaper components: E.g. steel parts, glass tubes, mirrors, direct copper bondings for the cell assemblies.

- WP 5 Commercialisation: We have set up a successful distribution in Morocco and Chinaion co-operations. Negotiations of co-operations in particular in Portugal, India, and US. Successful PR works with several positive newspaper articles e.g. in a leading German business magazine "brand eins".

- WP 6 includes the Project Management. In this field we received the first patent for our hybrid Receiver (in China), a utility model for the SunOyster Crystal (in Germany and China), a European patent for our tracker which led to national patents in Spain, France, Germany and Italy and finally a European patent for an innovative mirror structure. The project financials are altogether in line with our planning.
The project SOcool allowed to manufacture for the first time the unique receivers of the SunOyster, achieving so far a total efficiency of up to 60 % in relation to DNI. A further increase of the efficiency is expected until the end of the project e.g. through anti-reflective coatings.

The project SOcool moreover allowed to combine this receiver successfully with a thermal chiller so that the SunOyster can cover the complete energy demands of buildings in form of electricity, heat and cold.

Expected impact until the end of the project is an automated pilot production with total energy efficiency more than three times as high as PV, dozens of demo SunOysters in operation worldwide, an international certification for power and heat, three well-working demo projects SOcool Office, Hotel and Villa with Pool, a competitive supply chain, at least one strong international co-operation and a decent IP protection.

Based on the SOcool project, SunOyster Systems wants to seemlessly start commercial production of the SunOyster and its sales with thermal chillers. For the year 2025 we are striving for the followingambitious societal implications: We want to have 600 employees, 7 million tons of carbon dioxide savings of the SunOysters produced in that year over their product lifetime of 20 years and over 10 Million Euro of company taxes paid.
Picture of the SunOyster 16 pvplus installed in front of our production site in Enge-Sande, Germany
Picture of the interrior parts of the SOcool Office project with thermal chiller
Picture of the hybrid receiver installed for certification at TÜV Rheinland, Cologne