ORC Conversion of Solar Heat to Electricity and Low Temperature Heat for Domestic use

orc2019 Tracking Number 130

The concept of the European project Innova MicroSolar is based on a novel flat Fresnel mirror solar concentrating collector, connected to a Thermal Energy Storage (TES) composed of Phase Change Material (PCM) and reversible heat pipes, and an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC). The target is for the whole system to supply 60% of a household’s energy requirements, 18 KW of low grade heat and 2 kW of electricity. An extensive test period at ENOGIA facilities allowed highlighting areas of improvement of the ORC in early 2018 (results presented at the ICSEF). A thorough upgrade of the system was then realized, including the change of the working fluid and related components before installation of the complete system at the demo site of Almatret. The presentation will detail the results obtained during real condition tests, and assess the performance increase compared to the first version of the ORC. Key criterion for the evaluation of the performance of the installation will be its capacity to regulate the power and temperature on the cold source (domestic hot water production mode, already demonstrated with the first prototype) and to reach the targeted electricity output (83% of the target reached with the first prototype).