Heat generation in industry is still heavily dependent on fossil fuels. Direct use of renewable heat sources is limited, in part because of high temperature requirements. One of the few options is concentrating solar thermal energy (CST). This technology, which is still little known, has excellent characteristics to ensure the provision of industrial process heat – even in Germany and central Europe.

Concentrating collector systems are suitable for generating process heat up to an operating temperature of 400°and beyond. That means that CST heat can be used in wide areas of industry, in the food, textile and chemical sectors for example. With increasing gas and electricity prices there is a notable growing interest. In 2022 concentrating solar heat capacity quadruples and several multinational corporations have discovered solar steam as an important way to achieve their climate protection goals.

In this session we will show in how far the technology is capable to supply solar heat into industrial structures and we will discuss possible applications, efficiency, and economy as well as possible constraints.

Supported by UNIDO Investment and Technology Promotion Office Germany