COOPERANT: Leading-edge cooperative advances towards the next generation of concentrated solar power (CSP) technology

COOPERANT project is leading the charge in evolving Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) technology by addressing common constraints of conventional CSP plants, including high-temperature operations, availability on demand, affordability, and environmental impact. COOPERANT’s innovations are creating a pathway for the continuous production of renewable solar energy that is both on-demand and cost-effective, independent of direct sunlight exposure.

 

Operating at elevated temperatures around 1000ºC is essential for enhancing efficiency and reducing costs, but these extreme conditions pose challenges related to material resilience, corrosion, system design, and performance limitations. In line with the Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan’s objectives for CSP, COOPERANT introduces three innovative solutions across technological, digital, and knowledge transfer domains that collaboratively overcome these issues:

 

• COOPERANT CSP-TES system: An innovative high-performance volumetric solar receiver with a specially designed cellular structure is integrated with a hybrid packed-bed Thermal Energy Storage (TES) system. New phase-change materials and solid-state mixtures will be developed and tested for use as high-temperature storage media. Techniques to improve heat transfer and ensure containment will be employed to guarantee safe operation and sustained durability.

 

• COOPERANT-AI TOOL: This includes real-time monitoring and control systems based on reinforced learning, as well as features enabling scalability and replicability. Advanced artificial intelligence digital tools will orchestrate the entire system, aiding feasibility studies, and providing pathways for replicability and scaling up towards commercial viability.

 

COOPERANT-TRANSFER: A knowledge transfer initiative with a multi-stakeholder framework aims to foster close collaboration with the industrial sector through the Stakeholder Replicability Board (SRB). This board gathers key partners dedicated to dispatchable clean energy, solar fuel production, and industrial applications, ensuring the transfer of COOPERANT’s innovations from the research sphere to practical, market-ready solution

Our main tasks

• Implementation of a distributed control module utilizing hybrid digital twin technology
• Creation of a replication module enhanced by AI-driven multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO)
• Management and coordination of the project
• Advancement and launch of the COOPERANT-AI system, alongside economic viability and cost-effectiveness studies
• Initiatives for the dissemination, commercialization, communication and replicability of research outcomes

Partners

CIEMAT | ENGICER | HOLOSS | HSLU | IDENER.AI | KRAFTBLOCK | PCM PRODUCTS

Start date – finish date

10 / 2024 - 09 / 2028