INDHEAP – Optimal Solar Systems for Industrial Heat and Power
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The energy demand of the industry accounts for 32% of the global total energy consumption. Three-quarters of this industrial energy demand is heat, which is still primarily generated from fossil resources.
When examining the thermal energy systems of industrial plants more closely, steam or thermal oil systems are often found. The distribution temperatures are often much higher than the process temperatures. Nevertheless, it is difficult to change these existing systems. Conversion to hot water systems fails due to high conversion costs, individual processes with higher temperature requirements, or direct steam demand.
Therefore, the search for the best synergies between solar thermal (ST) and photovoltaic (PV) technologies seems to be a necessary approach to provide higher temperatures as well.
In the project INDHEAP, the construction of the hybrid ST+PV system as well as its integration and operation will be included, with innovative elements such as cost-effective medium-temperature solar collectors, flexible thermal storage (eTES), as well as advanced integration solutions for PV panels and an intelligent energy management system (EMS) for optimal utilization of both solar energies being developed.
The INDHEAP demonstrator, operated by NewHeat as an ESCO company, will be built in Valdemoro (Spain) on Total Energies’ site.
AEE INTEC is involved in a variety of work packages. The ‘Industrial Systems’ department, together with the measurement department, is conducting the energy audit including measurement campaigns – currently (April 2024) – these are being prepared. Later, integration concepts and planning guidelines will be developed for hybrid PV-ST systems.
The research group ‘Renewable Technologies’ will conduct the monitoring, with the open-source software SunPeek, co-developed by AEE INTEC, being further developed within INDHEAP.
