Institute tests feasibility of cooling, heating on concentrated solar power

The Cyprus Institute will provide cooling and heating to its Novel Technologies Laboratory (NTL) with concentrated solar power, CSP, in a project scientists have been working on for three years, Cyprus Weekly reported.

A linear Fresnel collector of 70 kW thermal peak capacity is housed on the 352 square metre roof of the KEPA School in Nicosia across the road from NTL. The island country’s first concentrated solar power facility will meet up to 40% of the building’s needs, said researcher Nestor Fylaktos from the Energy, Environment and Water Research Center (EEWRC).

The Sun’s radiation is reflected on a receiver by mirrors, heating thermal oil which is pumped to a storage block parallel to a heat exchanger. The facility in Cyprus is one of four pilot plants, and the rest are in Italy, Egypt and Jordan.

Fylaktos said the local project would be ready in April. The programme – Small-scale Thermal Solar District Units for Mediterranean Communities (SMS-Med) is funded by the European Union. The partnership is orientated at technologies for energy efficiency in public buildings. It consists of 14 organizations from Cyprus, Italy, France, Egypt, Jordan and Greece. The kick-off gathering was in Palermo, Italy, in 2013. The endeavour will last 36 months on a budget of EUR 4.9 million.

The institute has another experimental CSP and desalination plant in Pentakomo.