SMALL-SCALE, MULTI-GENERATIVE CONCENTRATING SOLAR POWER (CSP)PLANTS

Completed and Ongoing Activities:

Italian national agency for new technologies, energy and sustainable economic developmentwww.enea.it cooperazione_sviluppo@enea.it

Contacts: Alberto Giaconia - Tommaso Crescenzi

Agenda 2030

Affordable and Clean Energy - Sustainable Cities and Communities

Energy Technologies Department

ENEA has developed advanced methods for the design, construction and operation of Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) systems of different sizes and typologies to provide local urban and rural communities with essential energy services. Specifically, ENEA has defined a flexible “toolbox” for the development of small-scale, multi-generative CSP plants, which can be easily adapted to the different local scenarios. Application scenarios comprise developing countries located in the so-called “sun-belt”, including North Africa and Middle East, where the exploitation of solar energy is fundamental to provide basic services such as power supply, air conditioning, wastewater treatment and water desalination

Benefits and Advantages:

• Replacement of traditional fuels’ combustion with “zero-emission” solar technology

• “On-demand” delivery of solar energy – even overnight and during cloudy periods – by the application of suitable heat storage systems available in the CSP toolbox;

• Job creation and business opportunities in the energy sector;

• Specific training in qualified capacity building platforms for energy managers and techno-logy transfer to local communities.

ENEA Service:

Under the STS-Med project (www.stsmed.eu), implemented in several Mediterranean countries (Jordan, Egypt, Cyprus, France and Italy) ENEA has developed a new heat storage system specifically tailored for small-scale concentrating solar plants, which can provide different buildings with “on-demand” power supply and air-conditioning. The project involved 14 partners including public organizations, local enterprises, academia and research institutes and was funded by the ENPI CBC MED Programme, with the general aim of promoting innovative technologies and creating awareness among the local communities on the potential of concentrating solar energy. The absolute novelty of the project stands in small-sized plants to be integrated in urban environment, with the installation of demonstration plants with at least 500 kW total thermal capacity;, the plants are equipped with energy storage systems to ensure power supply also in darkness conditions and guarantee maximum flexibility for the supply of energy services such as electric power combined with heating and cooling of different kind of buildings.

ENEA is also coordinator of the EU MATS project (www.mats.enea.it) for the development of a demonstrative 1MW CSP plant in Egypt, which can produce electrical power to meet the energy needs of about 1000 families and co-generate about 250 000 litres of fresh water per day by desalination. Engineering and construction of this plant, based on ENEA’s CSP technology, are carried out by Italian and Egyptian companies, where Italian enterprises play a fundamental role in the supply of CSP components. ENEA also coordinates technology transfer to local technicians and engineers.

Under ORC-PLUS project (www.orc-plus.eu), ENEA is developing a heat storage system to dispatch electrical power up to 4 hours after sunset in the Green Energy Park in Ben Guerir, Morocco. ORC-PLUS (Organic Rankine Cycle – Prototype Link to Unit Storage) is a four-year project that can rely upon a € 6.4 M funding under Horizon 2020; it involves two Italian companies, Enerray and Soltigua, European research centres such as the Fraunhofer Institute, CIC EnergiGUNE and IRESEN in Morocco. ENEA is also training local technicians and researchers.

Keywords:

energy, concentrating solar power, CSP, small scale integrated solar plants, heat storage, co-generation, sustainability, energy efficiency, capacity building, technology transfer, renewables, training, desalination

• plant design • technology transfer • consulting

• technical support • capacity building, training

Potential Goals

Small-scale Concentrating Solar plants started in 2016(Project STS-MED, ENPI 2007-2014)

Egypt

Jordan