NEXTOWER

Advanced materials solutions for next generation high efficiency Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) tower systems


SCARICA LA SCHEDA PROGETTO
Challenge:
Innovative materials for generating solar tower concentration systems
Field:
Materials
Role:
Partner
Funding:
Horizon 2020

Project

NEXTOWER
NEXTOWER is a project co-funded by European Commission within the HORIZON 2020 Framework Programme - CALL for “Nanotechnologies, Advanced Materials, Biotechnology And Production” (Call identifier: H2020-NMBP-2016-2017), in the fields of Innovation Action funding scheme.

The project shall introduce a set of innovative materials to increase the performance of atmospheric air-based concentrated solar power (CSP) tower systems to make them commercially competitive in the energy market beyond 2020.

The project takes an integrated approach that starts by optimizing the durability of the ceramic materials to achieve 20-25 years of maintenance-free service receiver components, while increasing their operating temperature for thermodynamic efficiency.

The actual exploitation of the hotter air (up to 800°C) is then crucially tied to the development of high-temperature thermal storage, here inspired by nuclear fission GEN-IV technology and based on liquid lead by means of new corrosion resistant steels.

The innovative materials will meet requirements in the following critical aspects:
- High temperature receivers (durability & emissivity)
- Thermal fatigue and thermal shock (especially in joints)
- Thermal storage by liquid metals, e.g. lead-based systems (corrosion issues, efficiency and max working temperature)

Goals

The main goals of the project are the following:
  • Durable solar receivers atmospheric-air CSP systems
    Design and development of new tough and highly thermally conductive ceramic receivers, working under extreme thermal cycling without failure at a maximum materials temperature of at least 800°C and delivering over 20 years of continued operations.
  • High temperature steels for thermal storage by liquid lead
    Develop coextruded-tubes and liner technologies from proprietary corrosion-resistance alumina forming steels to build high-capacity, high-efficiency lead-based heat storage that can work with high temperature receivers to supply gas turbines or industrial processes, thus expanding the boundaries of CSP technology.
  • Proving long term operations
    Stress tests in accelerating conditions using non-destructive and multi-scale modelling to prove durability of the receivers over 25 years, in response to the set-plan demand for rapid uptake of the technology by industry.
  • 12 months filed testing
    With lead at average 700°C for full proof at TRL 6 of all materials and for input data for levelized cost of energy (LCOE) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) computations.
  • New SOLEAD demo of CSP with lead loop
    Set up a full scale CSP demonstrator (SOLEAD) for unprecedented field testing of materials for CSP lead-towers, encompassing a large solar receiver interfaced to a single-chamber lead storage pool, in turns connected to a secondary “heat sink”.
  • Exploitation and Standardization
    NEXTOWER will establish and maintain an exploitation culture throughout the project, treating IPR in a way that maximizes impact, and addressing the integration of NEXTOWER with the standardization system.
  • Role 
    of Certimac

    Certimac took part in proposal writing and is leading Work Package 4 "Lab Scale Characterization & Furnace Testing" coordinating all the experimental activities devoted to ceramic solar receivers development and validation.

    More in details, the core activities to be carried out are the advanced characterization of materials and components (at pre-production scale), with particular focus on the thermo-physical characterization of ceramic materials employed for the solar receivers up to 1250 °C by determining the most important thermal parameters, such as:
    - thermal diffusivity,
    - thermal conductivity
    - specific heat.

    The thermal characterization is performed by means of both steady state traditional experimental methods and innovative methods, in order to select the best solution in terms of solar receiver material.

    Certimac is also responsible for the following:
    - optimization work to move to actual production and field testing
    - screening corrosion tests in lead at 900°C for optimization of alumina forming steels
    - aging tests into solar simulators and furnaces
    - fine tuning between modeling activities developed in WP2 “Design & Modeling of materials and components” and characterization outputs
    - support to the standardization process aimed to the project exploitation and impact maximization (WP7)

    Partners

    CALEF
    logo-Sapienza-Università-di-Roma
    logo walter tosto
    R2M
    SIL’TRONIX SILICON TECHNOLOGIES
    AKTIEBOLAGET SANDVIK MATERIALSTECHONOLOGY
    KTH ROYAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
    LIQTECH INTERNATIONAL A/S

    Funding

    The project was admitted to funding for a maximum contribution of Euro 4.999.777,88 on an investment of Euro 6.307.851,25.

    Find out more about the project

    Website

    Learn more about the new technological advances in concentrating solar power

    ISO 18755:2005 standard

    Certimac leads the revision of the standard on advanced ceramics for high temperature applications

    Innovation Award Contest

    Award won by NEXTOWER for its contribution to the standardisation of advanced ceramic materials

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    Discover Certimac through the detailed description of the projects we have carried out

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