TECSAS - Thermionic Energy Conversion & Storage Applied to Sunlight: Taking Concentrating Solar Power to the next level (DFM.AD001.328)

Thematic area

Physical sciences and technologies of matter

Project area

Structure responsible for the research project

Institute of structure of matter (ISM)

Project manager

DANIELE MARIA TRUCCHI
Phone number: 0690672558
Email: daniele.trucchi@ism.cnr.it

Abstract

"Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) has long been seen as one of the main routes for moving towards carbon neutrality, characterised by both overall system efficiency and Levelised Cost of Energy comparable with PV. Unfortunately, CSP is currently only implemented through very large centralized plant scales (>100 MW capacity), as process economics make this technology unsustainable at a smaller scale.
Thermionic-based converters are able to selectively absorb the sunlight to produce electrical power by exploiting efficiently sunlight and excess heat. When applied in substitution of traditional passive receivers, the proposed technology allows a maximum increase of the CSP conversion efficiency potentially more than twice as much state of the art performances, regardless of the plant size.
The aim of TECSAS is to evaluate the technological and business feasibility of downscaled CSP plants (<1 MW) powered by thermionic converters. If successful, we will prove that CSP can be applied to benefit several industrial settings, small rural communities and other residential applications."

Goals

-Development of a hybrid thermionic-based converter with a thermal storage system.
-Simulation of the integration of the TECSAS technology at different CSP scales.

Start date of activity

01/03/2021

Keywords

Concentrated solar energy, Thermionic energy conversion, Energy storage

Last update: 02/01/2025