After over four years, the H2020 POLYPHEM project has come to an end.

The POLYPHEM project has come to an end on 31 August 2022 after 4.5 years of collaborative research. The project was coordinated by CNRS-PROMES, with the collaboration of 9 partners located in 4 EU countries. Euronovia was responsible for the communication, dissemination, and exploitation activities.

POLYPHEM’s objective was to improve the flexibility and performance of Concentrated Solar Panel (CSP) plants at small scale and meet the requirements of local variable demand of energy. To reach this objective, the consortium developed an innovative technology: a solar-driven combined cycle with integrated thermal energy storage.

The POLYPHEM partners successfully reached many specific results despite a  technical issue on the solar receiver. The main achievements of the project are:

• the selection of two alloys for the tailor-made design of the air-solar receiver;
• the development and erection of an innovative Thermal Energy Storage made of concrete bricks and walls with oil as heat transfer fluid;
• the assessment of the performance with the creation of simulation models for each component (such as the air/oil Recovery Heat exchanger or the Organic Rankine Cycle);
• the testing of the solarised micro-gas turbine.

The Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of the POLYPHEM project could bring the technology from TRL3 to TRL4-5!

Watch POLYPHEM’s final video for an overview of the impacts, challenges, and success of the project:

Finally, the outcomes of the POLYPHEM project will reinforce the competitiveness of this new low-carbon energy technology, favour its integration in the global energy mix, and contribute to climate change mitigation.

Find out more about this fruitful collaborative research, relevant reports, deliverables, webinars, and scientific publications on the official project’s website.