Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) is one of the most promising renewable energies, but its deployment has been negatively affected by its high investment costs. This fact reduces its competitiveness compared to other alternatives (photovoltaics and wind power). In addition, existing CSP plants are facing troubling issues with the molten salts mega tanks, one of the core elements of their Thermal Energy Storage (TES) areas. These tanks, usually worth around €10M, are made of stainless-steel or carbon. The length of their welding cord and the increased corrosiveness of these materials at high temperatures endanger their durability. Recently, some settlements and even breakages have been reported in commercial plants, causing relevant repairing and substitution costs. TANKRETE project, developed by InCrescendo, is aimed at tackling this problem while contributing to increase the CSP profitability. TANKRETE is a cylindrical tank with an isolating foundation system, all manufactured with patented thermal concretes. TANKRETE provides greater stability and durability to the TES area, with a significant reduction in the investment cost (35% cheaper than current tanks), plus additional 3-4% savings in a budget of €45M in salt volume. TANKRETE provides adaptability and design flexibility, as well as immediate applicability, it being compatible with current plants’ technologies. We have developed two small-scaled functional prototypes, whose long term thermal and structural stability has been successfully tested. Based on our estimates, TANKRETE will reach by the 3rd year from launch a cumulative turnover of €63M in a turnkey business model, with a cumulative profit for us of €6.3M. This is a high-risk project. We have the customer base and a current existing demand. However, they need a more adequately sized pilot unit to be tested, due to the high investment. We aim to confirm our preliminary feasibility data through Phase 1 and then we will pursue the pilot unit construction.

MOSAIC project aims to exceed the goal of the Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan - European Commission of producing CSP electricity at a cost below 0.10 €/kWh. To exceed this goal a commercial CSP plant of > 1GW of nominal capacity is foreseen, in which high nominal capacity of CSP plant is reached in a modular way where each MOSAIC module delivers thermal energy to linked thermal energy storage systems that supply their energy to a high capacity power block (>1GW). This modular configuration guarantees reliability, flexibility and dispatchability according to the needs of the electrical grid while reduces significantly the specific cost of the Power block (€/MW installed). Each MOSAIC module consists of an innovative fixed spherical mirror concentrator arranged in a semi-Fresnel manner and an actuated receiver based on a low cost closed loop cable tracking system. This configuration reduces the moving parts of the whole system decreasing solar field cost while keeping high concentration ratios. This will assure high working temperatures thus high cycle efficiencies and a cost effective use of thermal storage systems. Energy from the sun is collected, concentrated and transferred to the heat transfer fluid at module level where, due to the modular concept, distances from the solar concentrator to the receiver are much shorter that those typical from solar tower technologies. As a result, the efficiency of energy collection is maximized, atmospherical attenuation is minimized and accuracy requirements can be relaxed. All these technical benefits contribute to a much lower capital cost of the whole system while keeping efficiency and reliability. This has consequently a strong impact in the final cost of electricity production. First figures show LCOE estimated values below 0.10€/kWh for CSP power plants of 100 MW nominal power based in MOSAIC concept, additional cost reductions are expected for greater capacities (>1GW) exceeding the goal of the SET plan