NEP

Polygeneration is an integral process for the purpose of producing two products from one or several resources. In the case of solar energy, it makes use of the thermal energy from a solar field for several simultaneous applications, such as generating electricity, desalting water for drinking water supply and the rest for domestic hot water (DHW).

The purpose of this facility is the preliminary study of the behaviour of a parabolic trough solar field of small concentration ratio, the determination of its feasibility as a heat source in polygeneration schemes, in particular in CSP+D requiring temperatures around 200°C. The collector selected was the Polytrough 1200 prototype by NEP Solar. It has a production of 15.8 kW per module (0.55 kW/m²) under nominal conditions, with a mean collector temperature of 200°C, and efficiency over 55% in the range of 120-220°C (for 1000 W/m² of direct normal irradiance).

The field is configured with eight collectors placed in 4 parallel rows, with 2 collectors in series within each row. This configuration supplies 125 kW of thermal energy. The temperature of the thermal oil can be up to 220°C, so different schemes for making use of the thermal energy for polygeneration can be evaluated.

Currently the solar field is also being used to generate steam for supplying the double-effect absorption heat pump coupled to the PSA MED plant.