THEAeneas christens 4 new solar plants. It seems like non-news given the boom in solar around the world. But the news is there because there are four small scale multi-generative concentrated solar power plants in Italy, Egypt, Cyprus and Jordan. All of this was carried out as part of the Sts-Med1 project (Small scale thermal solar district units for Mediterranean communities) whose main objective is to disseminate innovative technologies and raise local communities' awareness of the potential of concentrated solar power to meet energy needs. The small-sized plants – and this is an absolute novelty given that concentrated solar systems are mainly of large size (from MW upwards) – will produce a total of 500 thermal kW, supplying electricity, hot water and conditioning to public buildings with a user of 20 people in the Mediterranean area.
“This project offers new business opportunities to companies and contributes to the creation of local districts and production chains with qualified jobs – explains Alberto Giaconia, ENEA researcher – Once fully operational, the plants will be managed autonomously ; we aim to train 1.000 professionals in the energy sector and to bring 200 managers and managers of public structures to visit these plants, which will become real educational laboratories”.
The systems were installed at Palermo (at the university campus), a Cyprus in the city of Nicosia (on the roof of a school), in Jordan in Irbid (roof of a school) and in Egypt in Sekem (in an area adjacent to a hospital). They are equipped with an energy storage system which ensures operation and electricity supply regardless of effective solar radiation, even at night; in particular, ENEA has developed a new thermal storage system for small to medium sized concentrating solar systems. The facilities are also integrable with biomass and fossil fuels (even if the latter remains only an option for the moment) to ensure maximum flexibility in energy supply. The characteristics of these prototypes open new opportunities for sustainable development for many remote areas of the planet, especially those located in the so-called "sun-belt" (the belt of the sun which also includes North Africa and the Middle East), where the exploitation of solar energy will represent the major source of energy supply. But not only. Alongside the energy supply, STS-Med technology will allow local communities to have access to drinking water thanks to the highly energy-intensive desalination processes.
