SUSHEAT includes several innovative technologies to facilitate the integration of renewables into industry at the temperature range of 150-250°C. The integration relies on harvesting energy from waste heat, ambient as a heat reservoir, and concentrated solar heat through a Linear Fresnel Collector (LFC).
A LFC system is made up of several collectors in series called strings. The collectors consist of mirrors rotating on the same axis on the bottom to direct and concentrate sunlight on the receiver on top. This receiver consists of an absorber tube covered by a secondary mirror above, where a heat transfer fluid such as water flows and heats up to become steam.
The viability of concentrating solar heating systems, using mirrors to harness the sun’s energy, will be improved for the functioning of solar energy at low temperatures. This makes it possible to deliver a large amount of thermal energy for a reasonable price utilising elements made of glass mirrors with long focal lengths that are nearly flat.
In SUSHEAT, LFCs are included as the best feasible representative renewable technology for the industrial heat upgrade to be integrated off-the-shelf. Solar energy will supply heat that will be stored in thermal energy storage batteries both at a high temperature (250°C), and at a low temperature that will be upgraded for utilisation at a later stage.
This will deliver significant savings of CO2 (greenhouse gas emissions) per each kilowatt hour generated, allowing for the replacement of natural gas as the feed stock. The SUSHEAT innovations plan to increase the feasibility of LFC technology for industrial application.
