Workshop Solar Energy - Francesco del Medico, Glayx, Italia

Thematic workshop on solar energy

Francesco Del Medico, Program Manager, Glayx Tech, IT

2/16 Glayx Tech – Thematic workshop on solar energy - ELAN Chile 2015

Objectives & Summary

• Italian company founded in 2009• EPC contractor in the construction of over 20

MW renewable power plants in Italy and over 3MW directly-owned production sites as a smallenergy utility;

• Glayx Tech is R&D division dedicated to newproducts development.

• In 2014 entered the market with the linearFresnel solar concentrator ThermeX.

Main workshop objectives:

Short overview on the development status of solar generation technologies,summarizing strenth-points and weaknesses and their growth potential;

Focus on Solar concentration technology: proposal of a different viewpoint toactivate the potential market;

Conclusions

Short company profile:


Solar energy technologies

Solar energy generation at a glance:

CSP

180 GW 3.6 GW

50:1 scale ratio

Photovoltaics

Global solar power cumulative capacity is < 50% of global wind power capacity(approx. 390 GW) and < 20% of global hydropower capacity (approx. 1 TW);

Solar energy is available everywhere, not the same for wind and water...


Solar photovoltaic focus

PV power energy is not easily integrable: production discontinuity cannot be softenedwith existing batteries whose cost per energy unit is 10 times than thermal storage…

«Concentrated» technology content: low impact on local industry; NINBYphenomenon…

Tremendous growth between 2008-2012 increased PV penetration in most EUcountries: benefits on specific cost of energy but infrastructure capacity arised a limit;increasing request from producers to be paid for «guaranteed capacity» instead of«produced energy»;

PROS:

Photovoltaics

CONS:

Widely proven technology: easiness of installationand standardization on main plant components;

Wide range applications, residential to power gen:enabling the concept of “distributed generation”even off-grid

Lowest LEC from solar in most countries: technologyarised industrial scale;


Solar photovoltaic focus

Renewable energy penetration is now a key-factor on Specific Hourly Energy cost:

Public available data; elaborated by Glayx

Energy hourly price in most EU countries is no more linked with fossil cost (Brent index), but is mostly related to the ratio of renewable energy available in the hour to the wholedemand. An opportunity and a challenge.


Concentrated solar energy focus

CSP

Pure CSP applicable on large scale power plants: need of high DNI, available areas andcapital costs limited technology diffusion to big utilities and in few world regions;

CSP has not reached successfully an industrial development for any of available solution(parabolic, Fresnel, dish, tower): most players operate in a low-scale market preventingeconomies of scale and cost reductions;

CSP can be complementary to PV technology since is able to overcome most of PV lacks,but is still a neverending promise.

CONS:

PROS:

Partially programmable production through thermalstorage installation;

Strong generation potential in highest irradiance areas(differently from PV): potentially lowest LEC from solar inmost of such regions;

«Systemic» technology content: low added value fromsingle components enables local industry benefits.


A different perspective

CSP growth potential passes through the following:

Concentrated solar Energy: power conversion is out of technology definition. Higher global efficiency evaluated on final available «product», i.e. thermal energy; Systems can be scaled up to small size (500 m2); Industrial process heat open a huge market favoring technology widespread.


Industrial heat demand below 400°C is more than 55%, demand below 100°C is more30%. CSP technology applied primarily to heat generation is a great market opportunity.

Heat demand overview

Industrial heat demand - Europe


Heat demand overview

Energy consumption in both advanced and emerging countries is 2/3 given by thermalenergy. Focusing on EU countries, 70% heat demandfalls in the range temperature between 100°C-200°C.

Market potential:

Application fields:

Temperature SourceThermal Energy Cost

[$/kWht] in Italy

Air Conditioning / refrigeration(Solar Cooling)

Water, 90C – COP 0,7165C – COP 1,2

Electricity, COP 3 0,02 - 0,05

Dairy, Paper, Industrial cleaning Steam, 120-180C Natural gas, GPL 0,04 - 0,07

Air drying Water-air, 80-100C Natural gas, GPL 0,04 - 0,07

Food conservation Water, Oil, 165C – COP 0,6 Electricity, COP 1 0,07 - 0,10

Textile, chemical, miningindustry

Water, Oil, 120-200C Natural gas, GPL 0,04 - 0,07





Simplicity and Efficiency: design solution assessed on minimum LEC/LCOH instead of maximum conversion efficiency. Hybrid power plant to be evaluated instead of expensive high-temperature storage; Focus on medium temperature cycles and processes; Installation Site: no product is for everywhere.


CSP Fresnel systems having total efficiency higher than 40% and specific costbelow 150US$/m2 yield their LCOH at lower values than 0.03 US$/kWh, atleast in sites having yearly DNI greater than 1900 kWh/m2yr.

LCOH analysis and design

Efficiency vs Specific Cost for different LCOH

40% Efficiency, 150 €/m2


Installation site

Chilean scaled potential…

DNI yearly area Production in Italy* Production in Chile*

650 kWht/m2 1050 kWht/m2



*@ 160C temperature

The selection of installation site is «efficiency» itself:

within Central – Southern Italy we found out manyapplications whose heat specific cost from ThermeX iscomparable with fossil fule generation withoutsubsides.DNI values in Chile are tremendously high and showsgeneral applicability for all concentrated solar techs.

Chile: up to 3400 kWh/m2

Italia: up to 1900 kWh/m2





Simplicity and Efficiency: design solution assessed on minimum LCOE/LCOH instead ofmaximum conversion efficiency. Hybrid power plant to be evaluated instead of expensive high-temperature storage; Focus on medium temperature cycles and processes; Installation Site: no product is for everywhere.

Technology mixing: solar energy is a part of a puzzle. Solar cooling with single-double stage adsober chiller and combined solar-

cogenerative plant; Tecnology growth is easier increasing potential market.


Industrial solar cooling case study

Installation of 1000 m2 Fresnel solar concentrator ThermeX coupled with adsorber chiller and new 200 kW cogeneration unit in Isernia, Molise, IT

Before…• Industrial production of plastic moulding through electric

heating of molds; 24 h operation, 7/7 days;• Continuous need of heat removal: over 300 kW installed

electrical chiller COP=3;• DNI equal to 1500 kWh/m2

After…• ThermeX rooftop installation gross area 1350m2 , net

reflective 975 m2 with daily-sized heat storage;• 200 kW cogenerator motor with heat recovery @85°C, 84%

total efficiency (34% elect. 50% heat);• 270 kWf adsorber chiller COP=0.7;

Cogenerator operates continously at full load and solar thermal increase adsorber use(130kWf average); together yield 30%* reduction of electrical chiller use. (economicalmatter)Above all, the solution provides a reduction of 21% in primary energy consumed in theprocess (environmental matter)* Limits on installation size given by public contributions rules


Key-words:

«Technology mix»: in most EU countries further development of solar energypasses through small applications, off-grid production and self-consuming.Focusing on efficiency in “use of energy” can favor the widespread of solartechnologies coupled with a combination of other renewable and traditional.

«Sustainability culture»: all techs development steps pass through fullunderstanding of benefits from people who live and act the change. Strategicrole is covered by enterprise support organizations and private initiative.Demonstrative small scale pilot plants can be an option.

«Knowledge»: no easy solutions exist for complex matters. Advanced humancapital is essential for sustainable growth of solar energy. Investing incompetencies is better than investing on end-products.

«Energy strategy»: precise and coherent address must be given from singleGovernment and requires long-term plans including a multi technologyplatform. Feed-in-tariff demonstrated efficacy and limits; it can be a support,but also wasting money: cost efficiency is necessary for sustainable growth.

Conclusions

Thanks for attention.

Francesco Del Medico, Program Manager

[email protected]

Workshop Solar Energy - Francesco del Medico, Glayx, Italia

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