Researchers for the Application of Solar Thermal Energy to Processes (ASTEP) project have developed solar heating and cooling technology for dairy industry processes to reduce costs and lower carbon emissions.
The development has been named as the ‘SunDial Solar Collector’ and is a European Union Horizon 2020 collaborative project.
The ASTEP project brings together academics, industry experts, and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from nine EU countries (Ireland, UK, Spain, Cyprus, Italy, Greece, Romania, France and Poland).
SunDial is undergoing trials at Mandrekas, a prominent dairy operation located in Corinth, Greece.
SunDial Solar Collector
The dial harvests sunlight using a rotary system where eight mirror arrays are installed on a platform that tracks the sun.
The control system allows flexible operation, maintaining continuous energy production against the fluctuating solar resource and partial energy production during the night.
Mandrekas’ requirements centre around building a single solution that can both heat steam to 175°C for milk pasteurisation and keep yoghurt chilled at around 5°C, to be both cost effective and lower carbon emitting.
The system will be installed in two different climate regions, including Corinth in Greece, which is located at a latitude where the use of solar energy is more widespread.
It will also be installed in Iasi in Romania, located at a latitude where the use of solar energy is less common.
SunDial is also a “key project” for Crowdhelix, which is an international network of 700 universities and businesses across 56 countries, which aims to connect research projects.
Crowdhelix chief executive officer (CEO) Michael Browne said:
“ASTEP’s SunDial demonstrates what can be achieved when researchers and innovative businesses collaborate to construct a solution that can lower production costs and carbon emissions simultaneously.
“Building these teams can take time, which is why we have built an end-to-end open innovation platform that allows researchers and industry experts to build strategic partnerships and to showcase innovations to end users as soon as they’re developed”.