A DLR short study on solar thermal power plants summarises the current technological status, requirements and possibilities. Solar thermal power plants open the way for the production of controllable energy from renewable sources. The technology is about to be rolled out and has enormous potential. DLR has many years [...]
Use of solar energy in the calcination process to minimise carbon dioxide emissions during cement production. Rotary kiln successfully tested in the solar simulator at the DLR Institute of Solar Research in Cologne. Can be used in Southern Europe and emerging markets. Solar researchers at the German Aerospace Center [...]
The SolarPACES Technology Award 2018 has gone to the DLR Institute of Solar Research and the DLR start-up CSP Services for QFly, an airborne system for the quality assessment of concentrated solar power plants. Over 500 people attended the annual conference held by the SolarPACES network of researchers in Casablanca [...]
International solar thermal energy researchers have successfully tested CONTISOL, a solar reactor that runs on air, able to make any solar fuel like hydrogen and to run day or night - because it uses concentrated solar power (CSP) which can include thermal energy storage. CONTISOL was tested at Cologne, Germany [...]
On 28 November 2017, the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR), together with international project partners, presented what is currently the largest solar-chemical installation for the production of hydrogen. In the HYDROSOL_Plant project, scientists and companies have jointly further developed the process of direct hydrogen production using [...]
Cement is the most widely used building material in the world. One of its key ingredients is calcium oxide (CaO), also called quicklime, which can be produced by calcination from naturally occurring limestone (CaCO3). Calcination is an energy-intensive, around-the-clock decomposition process at around 900 °C, usually powered by the combustion [...]
Germany's DLR research center has opened a new test facility which should help to reduce the cost of molten salt storage by "up to 40%," DLR said in a statement September 15. The Test Facility for Thermal Energy Storage in Molten Salt (TESIS) will be used to test molten salt [...]
One hundred tons of molten salt circulate through the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) test facility in Cologne. The molten salt is alternately heated and cooled from 250 to 560 degrees Celsius. Opened on 15 September 2017, the Test Facility for Thermal Energy Storage [...]
For years now, scientists from the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) have conducted research at the Plataforma Solar de Almería (PSA) in the south of Spain, which is operated by partner organisation CIEMAT (Centre for Energy, Environment and Technology). At this location scientists are [...]
The world's largest artificial Sun started shining in Jülich on 23 March 2017. Johannes Remmel, the North Rhine-Westphalia Minister for Climate Protection, Environment, Agriculture, Nature Conservation and Consumer Protection, joined Georg Menzen of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie; BMWi) and [...]
Scientists from DLR have, together with partners, compiled a guide to calculate the yield from a solar power plant before operations have started. The project financing of solar power plants should be easier with the guide and their competitiveness consequently given a boost. Scientists from the German Aerospace Center [...]
The German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) is celebrating its fortieth year of energy research in 2016, giving decision makers a chance to reflect. One of these decision makers is Michael Geyer, who is a physicist and engineer, and an expert on solar thermal power plants. For [...]
Scientists at the DLR Institute of Solar Research and the Spanish research center CIEMAT ended successfully a three-year trial period for the aging behavior of different protective coatings on aluminum mirrors and derived a methodology for accelerated aging. Aluminium-based solar mirrors can be a cost-effective alternative to traditional solar glass [...]
