Introduction and Context
- Industrial heating accounts for 20% of total global energy usage and 10% of global CO₂ emissions.
- 3.8 Gt CO₂ is released per year from industrial heating.
- The industrial sector consumes energy worth USD 45 billion annually in India.
- Climate urgency, emission policies, and rising fuel costs create a push for sustainable and reliable alternatives.
The Need
- ~75% of industrial energy demand is for process heat (not electricity).
- 90%+ of that heat currently comes from fossil fuels (coal, furnace oil, LPG, diesel, natural gas).
- Solar PV doesn’t solve this as it makes electricity, not heat.
- There are no easy commercial solutions yet for 200°C–600°C heat, which is a huge white space between solar hot water (low temp) and electric/hydrogen heating (too costly today).
- That gives birth to a need for medium to high-temperature process heat from renewable, storable sources.
The Vision
Developing an industrial-grade solar heat system that can directly supply process requirements from 200°C–600°C steam/hot oil or air/charge preheat to cut fuel costs and emissions while keeping operations reliable.
- Micro-CSP panels bring the PV-panel model to solar thermal for the first time, enabling modular deployment at industrial sites without massive towers or trough fields.
- Unlike flat-plates and evacuated tubes (limited to <200 °C), or troughs and towers (large, centralised), Micro-CSP panels operate efficiently at 200–600°C in a compact, modular format.
- Panels can be combined like PV modules to reach kilowatt to multi-megawatt thermal fields, making industrial-scale decarbonisation accessible to mid-sized plants.
I am currently designing a novel system and would love inputs, introductions, or shared experiences from people on this forum.
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