Back to News & Resources overview
Press releases 01 November 2021

Launch of the 4th call for proposals for the SFERA-III transnational access

With SFERA-III, benefit from free access to top research infrastructures in Concentrated Solar Thermal power across Europe!

The 4th SFERA-III access campaign has been launched on 1st November 2021. This call for projects provides free access to 43 installations of 14 state-of-art research infrastructures in Concentrated Solar Thermal power in 8 countries:

CYPRUS

  • The Cyprus Institute: FRESNEL, ATHLab (Athalassa’s Heliostat Testing Laboratory), Exposure, Msloop, Receiver and MED

FRANCE

  • PROMES-CNRS: MSSFs, MWSF, THEMIS and MicroSol-R
  • CEA – ESTHER: LHASSA (Latent Heat Storage with PCM)
  • CEA – DURASOL: Opti-Lab and Indoor

GERMANY

  • DLR: Synlight (High-flux solar simulator)
  • Fraunhofer ISE: WT Lab, TES-LAb, CD-Lab (Durability testing of materials for concentrated solar thermal), C-Lab Field and CD-Lab

ITALY

  • ENEA: ESOL (ENEA Solar Collector Optics laboratory), TFC-LAB, OMSoP and PCS

PORTUGAL

  • University of Evora: CER (Renewable Energies Chair), PECS (Solar Concentrators Testing Platform), INIESC (National Research Infrastructure in Solar Energy Concentration) and DNI-N
  • LNEG: H2, HPC and LMR-LES

SPAIN

  • PSA-CIEMAT: SOLFU, DESAL, MOSA (Molten Salt Test Loop for Thermal Energy Systems), HIWATOX and SOLWATER
  • IMDEA: HTPU-CDL (Computational Design Lab for High Temperature Processes), HTPU-LAB, KIRAN42 (42kWe High Flux Solar Simulator) and VHCST (Very High Concentration Solar Tower)
  • UAL: CIESOL

SWITZERLAND

  • ETH Zurich: HFSS (High flux solar simulator) and CHEM (Chemical Laboratory)

TURKEY

  • METU/ODAK: GunSolSim (High flux solar simulator)

The campaign offers access to a wide spectrum of experiments such as:

  • Solar thermal electricity generation
  • Solar fuels production
  • Cycles for chemical storage of solar energy
  • Solar water treatment
  • Solar heating and cooling of buildings to improve energy efficiency
  • Modelling and controlling of concentrating solar technologies for power plants and for industrial processes
  • High value material synthesis and/or coatings deposits
  • High-flux photochemistry and photo-physics
  • Characterisation of materials behaviour and properties under extreme conditions

The 4th SFERA-III campaign is open until 31 January 2022. The selected projects will benefit from 1 to 4 weeks of free access to the chosen facilities for a team of up to 2 persons. Moreover, travel, accommodation, and subsistence costs are reimbursed by the project’s budget.

 Check the call conditions and apply HERE!

Timetable and useful links

01 November 2021: Call open and submission of the project proposals – Check conditions for application

26 November 2021 (11:00-12:00 AM CET): Webinar session to inform on the call conditions and templates to fill in. Registration is free but mandatory here.

31 January 2022: Deadline for submission

Until April 2022: Selection process of the projects to be hosted at the different CSP Research Infrastructures

April 2022: Announcement of the results

June 2022 – December 2023: Hosting of the user projects

To submit your project, fill in the User Research Proposal Form here or download it here.

List of the selected projects:

DISCLAIMER

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, SFERA-III cannot guarantee that all its services will be performed. In exceptional situations, consortium partners are entitled to regulate, suspend or terminate an access or activity without prior notice and without any refunds or compensation for the damage suffered by the Users. Users are therefore recommended to take out appropriate insurance. You can follow the latest information on the EU Member States restriction of free movement at https://reopen.europa.eu/en.

READ MORE