UÉ and DRL have been operating, since October 2021, the EMSP, a solar thermal testing facility that is dedicated to research activities for the use of molten salts in the thermal conversion of solar radiation at high temperature. This technique represents a technological breakthrough that allows for an increase in operating temperature and thermoelectric conversion efficiency, unlike conventional plants that use thermal oil as the heat transfer fluid in the solar field. This technology allows, in an efficient and cost competitive way, to store heat, which will then be converted into electricity, for much longer periods of time than with photovoltaic technology, increasing its economic viability with the reduction of the final cost of electricity.

Between March 28 and 31, the DLR team visited, as part of a research project on new technologies for low-cost solar energy, in addition to EMSP, several test facilities in the Iberian Peninsula, including the Almería Solar Platform in Spain and the solar thermal plants Andasol and Gemasolar, sites that demonstrate the path from research to application, to which DLR has contributed significantly with its involvement in the technological development of solar thermal plants.