Development of an integrated solar-fossil powered steam generation system for industrial applications

To this day solar technologies do not cover a significant share of the industrial steam demand, despite the fact that concentrating solar collectors are market available, are well capable of reaching the required operating temperatures, and are able to generate steam directly. In addition to the low cost of fossil fuels and emission permits, other reasons for the slow market penetration of solar thermal technologies for industrial process heat applications are the lack of awareness within industry that such technologies exist, along with the lack of standard package solutions. Currently, every solar process heat system must be custom tailored and integrated with the fossil fuel fired heat source of the system. This results in considerable costs for engineering services and approval. Therefore Viessmann, a leading provider of industrial steam boilers, and Industrial Solar, a renowned manufacturer of linear Fresnel collectors and turnkey provider of solar process heat systems, have joined forces to develop a standardized solar-fossil fuel powered steam generation system for industrial applications. The two industrial partners are being supported by the German Aerospace Center, DLR, which has more than 20 years of research experience with concentrating solar thermal technologies and direct steam generation. Our conference paper provides insight into the current status of the project and the activities planned. This development is funded by the Federal Environment Ministry under the project title "SolSteam" and will form the basis for the development of a commercially available product. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.