Overview
The main challenges facing Solar Heat for Industrial Processes (SHIP) include its limited application at temperatures above 150 °C, with only 17 systems across six EU countries currently achieving this. Most existing SHIP systems serve lower heat loads, restricting wider industrial adoption. Certain countries, such as Romania and Greece, lack any SHIP installations at these higher temperatures. Additionally, not all solar collectors can meet the required temperature thresholds. To enable broader uptake, new technologies and methodologies must ensure reliable thermal energy production up to 230 °C. Overcoming these limitations is key to expanding SHIP use and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
ASTEP addressed these challenges by developing an innovative Solar Heating for Industrial Processes concept. The project successfully demonstrated its ability to meet industrial heating and cooling demands in two different relevant industrial sites, which were located on two different climate regions. ASTEP integrated two novel components, a SunDial solar collector and Phase Change Material-based Thermal Energy Storage, into a flexible, modular system, which enables continuous service and through integration allows full compatibility with existing systems of potential SHIP end-users. Finally, the project delivered practical guidelines and performance data for future SHIP installations in industrial settings.
Objectives
Establish the requirements for SHIP Applications and develop the main technologies: SunDial Technology and Thermal Energy Storage devices.
Demonstrate ASTEP technology at Lab Scale and at two relevant Industrial Sites (Upscaling of the technology to TRL5 and possibly beyond).
Assess the sustainability of ASTEP by verifying the substantial reduction in environmental, health, and safety impacts.
Create significant visibility of ASTEP results, widening the potential of applying solar thermal energy in industrial processes at different levels, transferring the technology generated through ASTEP project and contributing to the replication of ASTEP innovation capacities in different markets/countries.
eBOS Role in the Project
In ASTEP, eBOS developed an innovative dashboard to display data collected from the various sensors and IoT gateways deployed at the testing sites, in an interactive and user-friendly format. Supported by strong big data analytics mechanisms, the dashboard allows to perform comparisons of the collected measurements against the expected key performance indicators. The advanced intelligence dashboard developed by eBOS was used for both understanding of the environment and for post data analytical purposes, assisting in the validation exercises.
Moreover, eBOS supported the Quality and Risk management activities of the project, as well as the task dedicated to Data and Ethical management, planning and assessment. It participated in the organisation of focus groups and co-creative workshops to contribute to the elaboration of a strategy aimed at improving the social acceptance of the developed technologies. Additionally, eBOS engaged in the communication and dissemination activities, in particular via the virtual cluster/community (Helix) that acted as the backbone of the project’s dissemination and exploitation strategies. Finally, it contributed to the development of the joint intellectual property exploitation plan in collaboration with other project partners.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 884411.
