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Flexible automated manufacturing of RST Facets: High Performance Solar Reflectors for CSP industry

Project description

A disruptive solar reflector for concentrated solar power systems

Concentrated solar power (CSP) systems are essential in the renewable energy era. CSPs use mirrors or lenses to collect and concentrate solar energy onto a small area and convert it to thermal energy. TEWER’s RST solar reflector is a game-changing technology for CSP applications that is currently being produced as one-off individual facets. The EU-funded AUTO-RST project proposes the large-scale production of this advanced solution with facets having an area of up to seven square metres. Successful outcomes will significantly reduce solar field investment requirements and disrupt the entire tower thermosolar market as it will significantly reduce the costs of energy generation.

Objective

TEWER is a Spanish Engineering Company founded in 2014 by a team of experts in design, optimization and product development for solar plants and industrial technologies, with strong presence in the Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) energy market.

TEWER’s RST solar reflector is a disruptive patented solution, a unique sandwich-type, high performance facet for CSP applications, with very robust behaviour under working conditions and with an innovative design and manufacturing process. The technology proposed will remarkably enhance the optical quality to values lower than 0.6mrad for any operational conditions as well as produce the first facets in the market of up to 7sqm. This will allow to reduce the solar field investment by 15% (around 23M€ out of 156M€), disrupting the existing tower thermosolar market. The RST project and its possible future evolutions with joined optimizations with heliostats are aimed at a cost reduction of energy generation using this technology to the tune of 65 to 75 €/MWh depending on the plant location and other business parameters as financing cost. This project drastically improves the production/cost ratio, including both CAPEX and OPEX.

The main objective of the SMEI Phase 2 Project is to transition form the artisanal making of one-off individual facets to a pre-series production that allows to reproduce the design results in large numbers. This will be reached through the deployment of a pilot pre-series production line, representative of the future series production process to verify and validate the quality and performance of representative batches. Once the necessary re-engineering is done, the production process optimized and the facets thoroughly tested and validated, the RST production technology will be ready for market replication. The duration of the project will be of 24 months with a total budget of €2,253,190.

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Keywords

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020

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Coordinator

TEWER ENGINEERING SL
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 1 577 233,00
Address
AVENIDA DE CORDOBA 11, NAVE 1 POLIGONO INDUSTRIAL LA CARREHUELA
28043 MADRID
Spain

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SME

The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.

Yes
Region
Comunidad de Madrid Comunidad de Madrid Madrid
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 2 253 190,00
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