🚨 The ASTERIx-CAESar #ReverseOsmosis pilot plant #design has just been finalised 💦 Our project partner Apria, who is responsible for the plant development, closely collaborated with Plataforma Solar de Almería - CIEMAT to refine key aspects of its design ✍ The #PilotPlant construction 🏗️ has already begun at Apria's facilities — an exciting step forward in our development roadmap 🛣️ Click on the links 🔗 in the comments to read more about the technology as well as this pilot plant's characteristics 👇 #HorizonEU #desalination #CSP #EnergyStorage #CAES #EnergyEfficiency #EnergyTransition
ASTERIx-CAESar
Renewable Energy Power Generation
Horizon Europe project aiming at highly efficient energy conversion of solar power and compressed air energy storage
About us
The ASTERIx-CAESar project focuses on the development of a novel high-efficiency solar thermal power plant concept with an integrated electricity storage solution. The project combines air-based central receiver Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) and Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) to maximize conversion efficiency and power grid energy management, enabling a new operation strategy and business model. The hybrid concept initiates a futuristic era with adaptive renewable power plants, producing both electrical and thermal energy, including process heat supply and reverse osmosis desalination. As cheap off-peak electricity is used to provide the air compression work of the topping Brayton cycle, the overall peak solar-to-electric energy conversion efficiency of the proposed power plant may reach up to 40% efficiency, which doubles the peak efficiency with respect to state-of-the-art CSP technology. The main development will cover (i) an advanced high-efficiency solar receiver, (ii) optical sensors and AI-based solar flux control, (iii) optimized CAES with heat exchangers and compressor/expander detailed designs, and (iv) innovative integration of desalination. The proposed technology is set forth by an interdisciplinary partnership spanning the entire CSP value chain. Targeting a TRL of 6-7, the ASTERIx-CAESar concept will be validated with a demonstration-scale prototype of 480 kWth.
- Website
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www.asterix-caesar.eu
External link for ASTERIx-CAESar
- Industry
- Renewable Energy Power Generation
- Company size
- 11-50 employees
- Type
- Nonprofit
- Founded
- 2023
Employees at ASTERIx-CAESar
Updates
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#HappenedRightNow 🎉 We have just had our 3️⃣rd #SteeringCommittee meeting 👇 We discussed the progress of ✅ Our project #concept 💡 ✅ #SolarReceiver ☀️ ✅ Advanced #HeatExchangers ♨️ ✅ Advanced #CAES and #PowerCycle ⚡ ✅ #AI methods 🧠 ✅ #Demonstration ⚙️ ✅ Communication, #dissemination, exploitation 🗣️ We were proud to conclude that the project is still on #Target, #Time & #Scope 📐 (One more thing ☝️ We are not very fond of the theatre view below 🤭, but we look at least happy, as we really were 😊) Check out our website for all the above topics 👆, link 🔗 in the comments. #HorizonEU #EnergyEfficiency #EnergyTransition #CSP #EnergyStorage
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🎤 ASTERIx-CAESar on the stage of the recent Networking and Dissemination event of our partner ΔΕΔΔΗΕ Α.Ε. - HEDNO S.A. Their #Research and #Innovation department 🔬 plays a vital role in various #HorizonEU projects. Our project, presented by our very own Konstantinos Smpoukis, attracted lots of attention amongst different stakeholders 💬👇 #ConcentratedSolarPower #CSP #SolarThermal #EnergyStorage #CAES #EnergyEfficiency #EnergyTransition
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👀 Read the awesome post on ceramic components produced by our partner Walter Pritzkow 👏 It shows how quality matters 🎯 👇
"Four times the cost of a metal part? That's a lot!" When potential clients see our price list, I sometimes notice their hesitation. But forward-thinking operations managers understand what really matters: Total Cost of Ownership. Let me explain using real numbers from my experience: - Metal flame tubes: €150 each, lasting ~1,000 hours. - Our ceramic versions: €600 each, lasting 50,000+ hours The price difference seems big until you consider: - Replacement frequency (6x yearly vs. once per 7-9 years) - Production downtime (18 days/year vs. ~0) - Maintenance labor costs - Consistent production quality One client calculated their annual savings at approximately 60.000€ against an initial investment of just 2.000€. Throughout the component's lifetime, that's over a 210:1 return. These economics apply across our product range. See the picture of our burner lances. For petrochemical applications, they don't just last longer, but they eliminate catalytic coking reactions that compromise performance and safety. As BASF’s Maintenance Director told me: "When ceramic parts run just 2 or 3 months longer than metal alternatives, we earn millions, not thousands." This perspective shift from upfront cost to lifetime value is what separates visionary operations leaders from those trapped in short-term thinking. The most expensive component isn’t the one with the highest price tag. It's the one that keeps shutting down your production line.
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🔬Our research never stops - #SolarSimulator experiments underway 🔆 Our partners from Centro Nacional de Energías Renovables - National Renewable Energy Centre and Universidad de Sevilla performed tests in a #Xenon lamp to advance their development of #sensors for measuring the concentrated #SolarFlux. ☀️ The resulting analysis 🔎 will enable the conception of the sensors' final design to be tested in the real #heliostat field 💪 Stay tuned 📡 for more news & check out our website 🌍 for more information - link in the comments 👇 #HorizonEU #SolarEnergy #SolarThermal #CSP #EnergyStorage #CAES #EnergyEfficiency #EnergyTransition
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✅ ASTERIx-CAESar project concluded its participation at our partner's ETN Global #AGM & #workshop in a panel session on the EU-funded projects ⭐ moderated by Jitka Špolcová and Nicolò Cairo. 🎙️Our own David Sánchez Martínez from Universidad de Sevilla presented the #ASTERIxCAESar project, highlighting lessons learnt, project's #singularity, and conveying an encouraging parting message: 👉 💬 "#EnergyStorage will be instrumental to accomplish full #decarbonisation of the energy sector⚡️, and it can't rely on batteries🔋 only. #Turbomachinery-based solutions benefit from economies of scale📈 and deliver grid services that electrochemical batteries are unable to provide. ASTERIx-CAESar is thus offering a novel, unique, yet viable solution💡 to expedite the transition to carbon neutrality." 👏 #HorizonEU #CSP #ThermalPower #CAES
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🚀 The ribbon of our partner ETN Global #AGM2025 & #workshop was cut this morning! ✂️ 🪧 This also means the opening of the event #expo where our project is featured, surrounded by 140 registered attendees 🎟️ Find more ℹ️ about the event in the link in the comments 👇 #FLEX4H2 will be presented tomorrow during the EU-funded projects #PanelSession - stay tuned for details 📡 #HorizonEU #CSP #SolarThermal #EnergyStorage #CAES #EnergyEfficiency #EnergyTransition
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💡 Interested in #Fiber optic distributed high-temperature #measurement for environments above 800°C? ASTERIx-CAESar partner engionic Fiber Optics GmbH (formerly Loptek) develops a #FiberOpticSensor 🎛️ based on #femtosecond laser inscribed Fiber Brag Gratings (#FBG) that will be able to withstand the harsh environmental conditions in the #SolarAbsorber ♨️ These small, lightweight FBGs will be individually positioned in our experimental #absorber to monitor the temperatures 📟. As Alexander Thies points out: "Using FBGs enables multiplexing of temperature measurement with only one fiber ➰." The image below shows the correlation between the FBG and the measuring instrument 👇 #HorizonEU #CSP #ThermalEnergy #ConcentratedSolarPower #HighTemperature #EnergyStorage #CAES
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👏 Our project will be well represented at our partner ETN Global's #AnnualGeneralMeeting and Workshop on 25-27 March in Bergen, Norway 📍 David Sánchez Martínez (Universidad de Sevilla) 🎙️ will be one of the panellists during the session "Project dissemination and lessons learnt" moderated by Jitka Špolcová and Nicolò Cairo (both ETN Global) 🗨️🗯️ 🪧 ASTERIx-CAESar will also have its spot at the #expo area with its poster and leaflets 🌄 More ℹ️ on the event and registration (for members only) via the link in the comments 👇 #HorizonEU #AGM2025 #CSP #EnergyStorage #CAES #EnergyEfficiency #EnergyTransition
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♨️ Hot off the press ♨️ From sunlight to #StoredPower - our project experts interviewed 🎙️ Fritz Zaversky (Centro Nacional de Energías Renovables - National Renewable Energy Centre) and David Sánchez Martínez (Universidad de Sevilla) talked to #Horizon, The EU Research & Innovation Magazine 🗞️ about our project approach💡 They discussed 🗨️💭 the shortcomings of the separate concepts of ☀️ #ConcentratedSolarPower & ⚡ #CompressedAir #EnergyStorage and how their challenges are overcome when they are coupled together 🧩🧩 Read the whole article 📜 via the link in the comments 👇 #HorizonEU #CSP #CAES #EnergyEfficiency #EnergyTransition
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