Project dates: 01. Apr 2016 - 31. Mar 2020
Objective
RAISELIFE focuses on extending the in-service lifetime of five key materials for concentrated solar power technologies: 1) protective and anti-soiling coatings of primary reflectors, 2) high-reflective surfaces for heliostats, 3) high-temperature secondary reflectors, 4) receiver coatings for solar towers and line-focus collectors, 5) corrosion resistant high-temperature metals and coatings for steam and molten salts.
The project brings together a broad consortium formed of industry partners, SMEs and research institutes of the concentrating solar thermal and material science sector. The scope has been significantly shaped by the leading EPC of solar tower technology, BrightSource, who constructed Ivanpah, the world’s largest solar tower plant. This unique constellation permits a direct transfer of the obtained results in RAISELIFE into new commercial solar thermal power plant projects within less than 5 years and helps to solve urgent matters of current commercial power plants (e.g. the high temperature oxidation of absorber coatings on metallic tower receivers). For this purpose several TRL6 functional materials are being tested in accelerated climate chamber tests, field-tests under elevated solar flux and in-service in BSIIs power plants, with the final goal of increasing durability and performance and in consequence reducing CAPEX and OPEX. We project that commercial implementation of the subject technologies could account for as much as 2.5-3 euro-cent Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) reduction per kWh of electricity produced for solar tower technology between 2015 and 2020.