On January 22, 2024, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) issued a request for information (RFI) to better understand technology development needs and commercialization opportunities for receivers and reactors used in concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP) plants for electricity generation and concentrating solar-thermal (CST) plants for solar industrial process heat (IPH) generation.
The solar receiver or solar reactor is the key component in both CSP and CST plants, which absorbs and converts sunlight into thermal energy. This RFI seeks information on solar receivers and solar reactors that will enable new applications for CSP and CST systems, including higher temperature power towers for high-efficiency power cycles, solar reactors for thermochemical production of fuels and chemicals, or other IPH applications. Beyond power applications, the use of CST for low and high temperature process heat applications is another area of interest in this RFI.
SETO seeks feedback from members of the renewable energy industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, and other relevant organizations on three categories, grouped by receiver exit temperature:
- Category A: High temperature receivers for CSP applications (≥650⁰C exit)
- Category B: Low temperature (≤300⁰C) CST receivers for IPH applications
- Category C: High temperature (≥400⁰C) CST receivers and reactors for IPH applications
Feedback provided through this RFI will help SETO identify key challenges, address gaps, and support research to increase plant efficiency and reduce the overall cost of CSP applications.
Additional Information
The deadline to submit responses to this RFI is February 20, 2024 at 5 p.m. ET. You must email your response to SETO.RFI.CSP@ee.doe.gov as a Microsoft Word (.docx) attachment. Responses must be provided as attachments to an email. Attachments larger than 25MB should be compressed (i.e., zipped) to ensure message delivery. Only electronic responses will be accepted.
Please identify your answers by responding to a specific question or topic, if applicable.
The DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy will not respond to individual submissions or publish publicly a compendium of responses. A response to this RFI will not be viewed as a binding commitment to develop or pursue the project or ideas discussed.
Please provide the following information at the start of your response to this RFI:
- Company or institution name
- Company or institution contact
- Contact's address, phone number, and e-mail address
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