John Cockerill is developing the next generation of Solar Receivers

John Cockerill Energy continue the development of new solutions to increase the performances and reliability of its Solar Receiver. We are also working on the development of the next generation of Solar Receivers in order to keep a leadership in the very competitive CSP market. Several R&D projects funded by the Wallonia Region and the European fund FEDER have been launched since 2015. Discover them here below.

The Solar Focus projects are focused on the development of a Plasma sprayed solar “absorber” coating and a new equipment for the application of this coating on MSSR tubes.

The main goal of the Solar Perform project is the improvement of the efficiency and reliability of the Molten Salt Solar Receiver by the development of:

• A new accurate lifetime prediction model “Solar Perform” to improve the reliability of the solar receiver.
• A new silicon based solar absorber paint with high efficiency and reliability at high temperature developed thanks to the company Lithcote. The new coating developed is “CoteRill 750”.

The Solar Gnext project is dedicated to the development of the new Molten Salt Solar Receiver by the:

• Development of new dynamic corrosion test loop “Dynacor”.
• Testing of new materials with high resistance at high temperature (up to 850°C).
• Evaluation of new molten salts and corrosion mitigation solutions to reach higher outlet salt temperature (730°C).
• Development of anticorrosion coating in molten salt at high temperature.
• Development of an accurate lifetime prediction model including the corrosion effect.

In the HiFlex project, John Cockerill activity is focused on:

• The study and the design of a 800 kWth solid particles steam generator fed by particles at 1000°C and able to produce steam at 620°C.
• The integration of the heat exchanger model in the complete plant system.