SUN-DT aims at increasing the competitiveness of the European concentrating solar thermal power sector based on solar tower technology and its supplier digitalisation companies. To do so, the consortium will jointly mature four complementary and interoperable innovative digital tools: (i) A system for calibration and characterization of heliostats; (ii) a Digital Twin of the solar field and the receiver; (iii) an Energy Management System for dispatch optimization, and (iv) a predictive tool for enhanced Operation and Maintenance (O&M). These digital tools are going to be integrated into a single platform capable of processing data collectively to optimize decision-making at the plant level. Besides, they are going to be tested for validation in 2 experimental test facilities (VHCST at IMDEA Energy, Spain, and Jülich solar tower, Germany) and 2 commercial solar tower plants. Here two of the world’s largest solar thermal projects, the Khi Solar One plant and the Cerro Dominador plant, operated by two of the world’s leading solar energy players, COX and ACCIONA respectively, have been selected for demonstration purposes in commercial plants. Each of them represents the two possible solar field configurations (circular and polar), ensuring the versatility of the solutions adopted for all current and future plants. The demonstration period of the tools will be extended to 1.5 years, which will provide more robust test data and will bring the possibility of testing a complete year with its two distinct seasons: summer and winter.
Additionally, the joint maturing of the digital tools and their integration into a common infrastructure for running/coordinating/processing them together will increase the efficiency of the plants by managing multiple elements simultaneously. This will increase the number of data sources, and the amount of shared information for better decision-making.
Partners: FUNDACION CENER (Coordinator) (Spain); DEUTSCHES ZENTRUM FUR LUFT – UND RAUMFAHRT EV (Germany); CENTRO DE INVESTIGACIONES ENERGETICAS MEDIOAMBIENTALES Y TECNOLOGICAS (Spain); Fundacion IMDEA Energia (Spain); INAVITAS ENERJI ANONIM SIRKETI (Turkey); ACCIONA CONSTRUCCION SA (Spain); COX ENERGY EPC S.L. (Spain); EUROPEAN SOLAR THERMAL ELECTRICITY ASSOCIATION (Belgium); Fundacion IMDEA NETWORKS (Spain)
Funding Institution/Program: European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA)
Call: HORIZON-CL5-2024-D3-02
Type of action: HORIZON-IA – HORIZON Innovation Actions
Period: 01/10/2025 – 30/09/2028
IMDEA Energy Institute external funding: 418.794,69€
Principal Investigators: José González-Aguilar, Milan Prodanovic
