SOLINDARITY partners gathered in Germany during May 27-28, 2024 for the fifth Steering Committee meeting and our second in-person meeting since the project started. Although the project started this year, we are progressing in our plans and ambitions with the ultimate goal of accelerating industry decarbonisation.
The Steering Committee (SC) meeting included updates on work packages from partners, as well as an evaluation of the first semester and the next steps. One of the key activities undertaken so far was the technical visits to the three demo sites of the project. Two of these visits, in Greece and Italy, happened before the meeting, and the third in Germany, at Lorenz, was part of the SC meeting.
The project’s main pilot sites represent three key industrial sectors: food, paper, and rubber industries. Through the technical visits, the partners are assessing various factors of each demo site such as plant capacities, operational configurations, land constraints, and fuel usage, to prepare the plan and design the SEHUS installations. The end objective of the pilot sites is to demonstrate the effectiveness, sustainability, and cost-efficiency of the Solar Energy based Heat Upgrade System (SEHUS) in supplying medium-grade heat at temperatures up to 280°C to these different industries, helping them to decarbonise their processes.
During the meeting in Germany, partners also visited the prototype of the High Temperature Heat Pump (HTHP) developed by DLR, which is one of the technologies intended to be part of the SEHUS along with solar thermal and solar photovoltaic technology.
