Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development
Energy: ENEA in EU project to use molten salt at concentrated solar power plants
Accelerating technology transfer to companies in the CSP[1] sector -concentrated solar power plants- using molten salts is the objective of the EU project EuroPaTMoS[2], comprising seven partners[3] from four European countries, including ENEA. The transnational nature of the project makes it possible to create a stable connection for future joint research and development actions in this sector among Germany, Spain, Portugal and Italy, in which the ENEA Casaccia Research Center (Rome) acts as a point of reference for national research activities.
ENEA will carry out tests on some critical components of the plant for the purpose of their use in molten salt circuits, without increasing the level of technological risk due to malfunctions or disruptions during operation. Furthermore, ENEA researchers will validate processes to improve the operation and maintenance of the plant and develop emergency procedures to avoid damage caused by accidental solidification of salts.
“Molten salt use in parabolic trough collectors is based on the current commercial technology of linear parabolic collectors filled with oil. The use of molten salts as a heat transfer fluid and storage medium makes it possible to increase both the conversion efficiency and the ability to store energy for longer periods in CSP plants", explained the project manager for ENEA Walter Gaggioli, head of the Division “Smart Sector Integration and Distributed Generation by RES”. “The project - he said - aims at accelerating the transfer from research and development to commercial implementation by reducing the technological risks associated with the use of macro-technologies, with a TRL 5 whose feasibility has already been widely demonstrated at pilot plant level ”.
“ENEA’s participation as a leading research institution in the sector will strengthen the presence of the Italian system in the field of molten salt technology and new generation CSP systems”, concluded Gaggioli.
Notes
[2] European Parabolic Trough with Molten Salt, developed and implemented within and in accordance with the European H2020 CSP ERANET 2019 initiative through a partnership coordinated by the Institute of Solar Research.
[3] CSP Services GmbH, DUCTOLUX, S.L., RIOGLASS SOLAR SCH, TSK Flagsol Engineering GmbH, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Universidad de Extremadura, University of Évora, CSP Services España