Modulus – Modular Transfer Station

The German research project Modulus, which stands for Modular Heat Transfer Station, is one of the solarthermalworld.org partners. The project aims at developing a standardised, modular interface – a  so called “balance of plant” for the integration of solar heat into industrial process heat systems to bring down costs of solar heat solutions. The currently customary individual planning and production of balance of plants at the respective location increases costs and risks of errors.

Together with the four industrial project participants, researchers from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and Fraunhofer ISE develop a largely standardised modular and scalable balance of plant as an interface between the solar field and the industrial process heating system. The photo shows a pre-fabricated balance of plant for the demonstration site in Turnhout, Belgium (Photo: AURA GmbH & Co. KG). Altogether, three demonstration plants will be built within Modulus using different heat transfer fluids – air, steam and thermal oil. The DLR chairs the project which ends in March 2024 and is supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.

Please see below the articles created as part of this partnership:

SHIP Turnkey Supplier World Map

Mood on the SHIP market: High interest but slow decision making

Last year, gas shortages in Europe dominated the headlines for months. Energy prices peaked and heat-intensive producers had to increase the prices of their products. Against this background we asked solar industrial heat project developers for their assessment of the progress in the business. Of the around 70 companies listed …
High level of dynamism on the SHIP world market in 2022

High level of dynamism on the SHIP world market in 2022

The world market for solar process heat (SHIP) is gaining momentum. In 2022, more SHIP systems went into operation than in any year since surveys began in 2017. The project developers reported 114 systems with a capacity of 30 MW. In the preceding years the survey results showed only 71 …
concentrating solar heat capacity

Concentrating solar heat capacity quadruples in 2022

Multinational corporations have discovered solar steam as an important way to achieve their climate protection goals. Among the global players that have purchased a solar industrial heat plant this year are the huge breweries Heineken and Carlsberg. By the end of the year Givaudan, the worldwide largest producer of flavours …
structural change in SHIP supply industry

Structural changes in solar industrial heat supply industry

Serving heat-intensive manufacturers with zero-carbon solar heat is a tough business. The potential clients not only expect short payback periods, they are also usually not aware of the opportunities of solar industrial heat (SHIP) yet because of the small number of existing plants. This is the reason there has been …
Solar industrial heat market

Encouraging trends in the solar industrial heat market 2021

The global solar industrial heat market saw encouraging trends in 2021. The first large systems with heat purchase agreements started operation in France and Mexico. Spanish PVT collector manufacturers gained industrial heat and power customers for the first time. Multinational corporations turned increasingly to a zero-carbon heat supply from the …