On the 30th and 31st of January, the recently formed consortium of the IN-POWER project, which is developing new concentrated solar power architectures, met in Brussels for the kick-off meeting of the project. The event took place at the Permanent Representation of Catalonia to the EU. After an introduction to the project and presentations by each partner, participants reviewed all work packages and presented the work plan for the upcoming months. This included discussions on the Levelized Cost of Electricity, polymeric mirrors, materials for thermal storage, novel coatings, and much more. The European Commission also participated in the meeting. Now, partners will work on the first milestones of the project and begin their research and development activities.
The IN-POWER project will develop high-efficiency solar harvesting Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) architectures based on holistic materials and innovative manufacturing processes. The project will focus primarily on advanced materials such as high reflectance tailored-shape light-free glass mirrors, high-temperature absorbers in vacuum-free receivers, and optimized reduced-mass support structures, which will allow for the upgrading of current solar fields. IN-POWER will also reduce environmental impact by decreasing thermal storage systems by three times compared to standard systems, thanks to novel thermal storage materials. Additionally, it will achieve an impressive reduction of four times in the required land extension compared to current mature Parabolic Trough Collector (PTC) power generation, while maintaining the same thermal power output. The IN-POWER solution aims to bring the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) below €0.10/kWh beyond 2020.
