THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE UNIT
SFERA
Solar Facilities for the European Research Area
Client
Overall Cost
POP
European Commission, FP7-INFRASTRUCTURES-2008-1/
7.4M€
2009-2013
Project Description
The purpose of SFERA was to integrate, coordinate and further focus scientific collaboration among the leading European research institutions in solar concentrating systems and offer European researchers and industry access to the best-qualified research and test infrastructures. To improve the quality of their installation test services, the partners will cooperate to establish common guidelines on how to perform testing and develop and exchange best-practice approaches.
Thermal Storage Group’s Role
CIEMAT gained valuable experience in defining critical parameters for different thermal storage systems as well as in defining testing procedures for such systems with a unified and coherent nomenclature.
Technical Approach and Resources Used
The research team is engaged in
- Definition of standardized procedures for testing of thermal energy storage systems and CSP components prototypes.
Project Results (including any commercial outcomes)
Key Staff
The foundations for creating a unified virtual European Laboratory for Concentrating Solar Systems, with ready access for interested researchers, have been laid.
- Dr. Mª Esther Rojas
- Dr. Rocío Bayón
- Dr. Loreto Valenzuela