ENEA to coordinate a 6.4 M euro European concentrating solar power project in Morocco

ENEA will coordinate a European project to set up a cutting-edge concentrating solar power thermal storage system, allowing to generate electricity even in absence of sunlight.

The four-year project, called ORC-PLUS (Organic Rankine Cycle-Prototype Link to Unit Storage), will receive a grant of around 6.4 M Euro, of which 1.25 M will be allocated to ENEA, under the Horizon 2020 European Framework Program for Research and Innovation.

Two Italian companies (Soltigua and Enerray) and several research centers, including the Fraunhofer Institute (Germany), CIC Energi Gune (Spain) and IRESEN (Morocco), will take part in the project together with ENEA.

ENEA will be working on the development of a prototype storage system, training local technical experts and researchers. It will also contribute to designing and setting up the novel high-temperature thermal energy storage system, which will allow up to four-hour electricity production even in absence of sunlight.

The project is part of a collaboration between ENEA and the southern Mediterranean countries, and concerns specifically the Green Energy Park solar plant in Ben Guerir, a desert area in Morocco.

ORC-PLUS is among the 10 projects dedicated to developing high-concentration solar power ENEA is currently taking part in, on the basis of its extensive experience in conducting research on components and systems and in designing and constructing power plants of any size.

For more information please contact:

Francesco Di Mario
Head Technical Unit for renewable energy sources
ENEA Casaccia Research Center
francesco.dimario@enea.it