Deliverable 8.3 starts with replicability and scalability analysis of Control Tool (CT) and Replication Tool (RT). Then, the analysis extends to the replicability and scalability of the entire project, i.e. the whole integration of Solar Heat for Industrial Processes (SHIP) into industrial processes.
Replicability analysis held on CT and RT is mainly focused on interoperability and modularity of the components and the whole solution. CT achieves both Technical and Syntactic Interoperability thanks to its architecture design and components development, and to the use of open standards. Semantic Interoperability is not achieved since there is no standardised communication protocol between CT and proprietary systems of the various application plants. CT is based on a modular structure focused on 3 main aspects: data ingestion, data processing, data sharing.
Deliverable 8.3 then analyses opportunities and potential barriers to be tackled to replicate the integration of SHIP in other location and/ or sectors. During the last 15 years, in Europe, the power installed associated with SHIP projects for the food and beverage industry shows an ascending trend and competitive Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) (for South and Central Europe, 0.04-0.11 EUR/kWh based on IRENA report) (solrico). Therefore, solar heat can play a key role in industry decarbonisation.
During the project work, all demo-sites experienced supply chain disruptions, amendments of the Grant Agreement, natural disasters, as well as technical issues. A large number of actors has been involved in the deployment of the solar systems beyond the relevant project partners, including: local engineering and construction companies, thermal energy professionals, installers, suppliers of energy equipment. The collaboration of these actors can evolve in the future to form local value chains or business ‘ecosystems’ on applications of Solar Heat for Industrial Processes (SHIP) and broadly on the decarbonisation of industrial heating and cooling. Such a development can only have positive effects on widening the adoption of solar thermal at industrial scale and facilitate replication and scale-up at a post-project timeframe.
In the final part, this deliverable tries to summarize inputs useful for commercialisation and scale-up to be effective. First it is important to tailor project results on the most promising use cases, i.e. sectors utilizing process temperature between 50°C and 250°C and exploiting SHIP solutions based on vacuum tube solar thermal technology, High Vacuum Flat Panel (HVFP) solar thermal technology for space heating and process steam, HVFP technology for boiler pre-heating and process heat.
In order to successfully scale-up SHIP2FAIR solutions, some additional inputs from D6.5 – SHIP2FAIR demo-sites commissioning report and D7.5 – SHIP2FAIR Best practices guide are highlighted. Construction permits and other regulatory/ environmental authorisations may be required or not depending on the country and location. Building permit clearance can take a very long time and should be anticipated as soon as possible. For this reason, it is advisable that local engineering consultants are involved in the process.
Local value chain, in coordination with solar energy companies, has to secure a robust logistics during installation and commissioning phase. It is essential that all components required for system installation are available at the required time. Logistics and component procurement activities must be validated and verified prior to system installation and commissioning.
SHIP2FAIR experienced training activities to demo-sites personnel. These activities have been performed paying attention to both theory and practical aspects in the field to ensure the possibility to act quickly in case of failures. In order to effectively replicate the SHIP2FAIR solutions, it is important that staff training is supported by a comprehensive guidebook. This manual should include operation and maintenance standard procedures/ work instructions covering the respective integrated energy systems. The implementation and use of the CT and RT on the SHIP2FAIR demo-sites revealed that in order to interact with the tool, it is necessary to speak English correctly. To improve the scalability of the tools, it might be useful to include a multi-language interface.
The complete deliverable is available here.