PDF Basket
The EU-funded ORC-PLUS project has worked to increase technological performance, decrease the costs and improve the dispatchability of renewable energy systems such as concentrating solar power (CSP) plants, which use mirrors to concentrate energy from the sun. “What we have developed is an industrial-scale demonstrator of an innovative thermal storage system that has been integrated into an existing CSP plant located at the Green Energy Park in Benguerir, Morocco,” says El Ghali Bennouna of Morocco’s Research Institute of Solar Energy and New Energies (IRESEN), one of the ORC-PLUS project partners.
A new thermal energy storage system
As a co-owner of the Green Energy Park, IRESEN plays the pivotal role of hosting the demonstrator. Specifically, the institute has developed an innovative thermal energy storage (TES) system that, coupled with a concentrating solar power plant and an organic rankine cycle (ORC) system, improves the production capacity through increased availability of the CSP plant.
The solar thermal power technology produces electricity by concentrating solar radiation to heat a fluid to high temperatures and activate a power cycle. A CSP plant includes a field of solar collectors with receivers and a power block, where the harvested heat is transformed first into mechanical energy and then electricity. Combined with thermal storage capacity, the ORC can continue to produce electricity when the clouds block the sun and even at night.
By adding an optimised TES solution to the plant, ORC-PLUS researchers have extended the plant's periods of energy production and enhance the system’s competitiveness with other renewable and fossil solutions, such as diesel generators and PV-battery systems. “We believe that small-scale plants like the one at the Green Energy Park are a good option for remote areas – and even small industries – that need affordable, renewable power and heat,” explains Bennouna. “The implementation of storage into the process not only enhances the availability of energy for these potential users, but also serves as a cost-effective, sustainable alternative to traditional fossil-fuel options.”
Improving CSP performance
The ORC-PLUS project has already completed its activities, and the results are encouraging. Researchers have identified ways to improve the economic and environmental efficiency and overall performance of the system.
IRESEN and other ORC-PLUS project partners have finished the deployment of the TES pilot system at the Green Energy Park and validated the technical and economic efficiency of the ORC-PLUS solution through monitoring.