Proposed R

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Proposed RD Action Plan for Solar Thermal
Technology Development

• Ministry of New and Renewable Energy

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Background

• The Ministry has been supporting RD in the area
  of new and renewable energy since 1982.
• The RD scheme was amended in 2006-07 with
  activated role of industry. The underlying
  purpose of the RD policy was to make the
  industry competitive.
• The scheme is in operation, and research
  projects, solicited and received from various
  research institutions, are supported as per
  recommendations of RDPAC.

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Background

• However, the present energy scenario in the
  country has started to expect a bigger role of
  solar energy.
• NAPCC declared launching of eight national
  missions with National Solar Mission at the core.
  
• Solar Mission envisages a major RD programme,
  which could draw upon international cooperation
  as well, to enable creation of more affordable,
  more convenient solar power systems, and to
  promote innovations enabling storage of solar
  power for sustained and long-term use.

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RD Framework

• Approach
• Research Areas
• Who can Apply

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Approach

• Centres of Excellence
• Basic Research
• Applied Research
• Establishment of Major facilities
• Technology evaluation and validation projects

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Centres of Excellence

• Objective
• To augment and strengthen institutional research
  capacity in areas of solar thermal energy
  research
• To expand and develop faculty research capability
  and to enhance research infrastructure.
• Support may be provided with a specific thematic
  focus for research, which could be
  multi-disciplinary.
• Full support may be provided for 5 -7 years based
  on the assessment of time horizon required for
  sustainability.
• The share of support for manpower and
  infrastructure would normally be not more than
  50.

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Basic Research

• It has long term perspective for the development
  of innovative and new materials, processes and
  applications.
• The basic aim is to fulfill major unmet national
  technology needs, mainly for those areas which
  are of high natural and social relevance with no
  assured market as such.
• Support up to 100 is to be provided based on
  project proposals.

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Applied Research

• Aimed at improvement of the existing processes,
  materials and the technology for enhanced
  performance, durability and cost competitiveness
  of the systems/ devices.
• This is expected to result in increasing global
  competitiveness of the Indian Industry in the
  area of solar thermal technologies.
• Support in the range of 50 - 75 is to be
  provided the balance is to be met by the
  partnering organizations.

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Establishment of Major Facilities

• This may include testing and characterization
  facilities, solar radiation resource monitoring,
  accelerated test facilities, etc.
• In Public-Private partnership mode to provide
  access to various stakeholders viz. industry,
  researchers, consultants, professionals etc. as
  an enabling mechanism.

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Establishment of Major Facilities
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Technology Evaluation and Validation Projects

• Aimed at field evaluation of various technologies
  including hybrids for obtaining feedback on the
  performance, operability and costs.
• The technologies targeted could either be the
  ones developed indigenously as well as
  outsourced from outside having potential for
  adaptation and use in the country.
• Depending upon the configuration of the project,
  support in the range of 50 - 90 could be
  provided the balance is to be met by the user or
  the promoter of the technology.

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Research AreasBasic Research

• Development of advanced power cycles, to improve
  cyclic efficiencies (which are at best about 30
  presently) and therefore the overall conversion
  efficiency of grid connected solar thermal power
  plant
• Development of advance selective coatings for
  applications on high temperature solar receivers
  for power generation and smart windows for solar
  buildings
• Development of improved reflectors (new materials
  as well as upgrade of existing ones) having low
  cost and good outdoor durability, high solar
  reflectivity (gt92), good mechanical resistance
  to withstand periodical washing and low soiling
  coefficient (lt0.15).
• Development of advance processes for solar
  detoxification of air and water, solar
  desalination, very high temperature applications.
• Development of advanced solar thermal collectors
  (concentrating as well as heat-pipe) for
  generating heat beyond 80 deg C.

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Applied Research

• Development of organic Rankine cycle system
  suitable for solar thermal collectors for
  decentralized power generation.
• Development of solar dish engine
  (Stirling/Steam/Micro-turbine) for decentralized
  power generation
• Development of receiver systems for parabolic
  trough, solar-dish and central receiver power
  technologies.
• Development of storage systems which are
  efficient in terms of energy losses, have low
  cost, long service life and low parasitic power
  requirements.
• This would include molten salts with lower
  freezing temperatures and PCM. Options for low
  and medium temperature applications also to be
  targeted.

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Applied Research

• Development of heliostats with automatic tracking
  controls
• Optimized designing of supporting structure for
  solar concentrators to have lower weight, reduced
  power requirement, accurate tracking, and
  simplified assembly to facilitate faster on-site
  installations
• Power bloc suitable for solar power applications
• Alternative design configurations of
  concentrating collector systems
• Advanced solar systems for cooling (space
  cooling, cold storages, and refrigerators for
  PHCs)
• Development of other applications, which would
  include innovative designs for solar cooking,
  solar air heating and drying applications.
• Development of concepts of solar/green buildings
• Designing of test set-ups for performance
  characterization and test protocols

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Technology Validation and Pilot Projects

• Demonstration projects related to different
  technology configurations of solar thermal power
  generation viz. line focusing and point focusing,
  having variance in storage option and nature of
  hybridization
• Solar air conditioning/cooling systems for
  applications in domestic, commercial and
  industrial sectors.
• Industrial process heat systems
• Advanced solar thermal systems for various
  applications

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Who can apply?

• Solely by National R D Organizations and
  Institutions
• Solely by in-house RD unit (s) of industrial
  firms
• A single or consortia of company(ies), led by
  Indian Company. An Indian company is defined as
  one in which more than 51 ownership is by Indian
  citizens.
• Jointly by Industry and National RD
  organizations and Institutions
• Start ups

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Details of the Policy Framework are available
onwww.mnre.gov.in

• Your feedback and suggestions could be provided
  to
• ashvinikr_at_nic.in