SolarPACES 2025

This year’s SolarPACES conference is already the 31st edition of the world’s leading event on concentrated solar power and thermal and chemical energy systems.

ASTERIx-CAESar’s partners will participate with the following contributions:

Presentations

• Evaluation of a Hybrid CAES-Reverse Osmosis Plant Driven by Concentrated Solar Power (CIEMAT-PSA, Apria Systems, University of Seville)
  • Wednesday 24 September 2025, session Hybrid Systems 1 (16h30 – 18h10)
  • ℹ️ For the link to the paper/session description, visit here
    
    
• The ASTERIx-CAESar Demonstration Prototype; Specifications and Design of a Small-scale Hybrid CAES-CSP-Desalination Plant (CENER, CIEMAT-PSA, BlueBox Energy, Apria Systems)
  • Thursday 25 September 2025, session Emerging and Disruptive Concepts (14h00 – 16h00)
  • ℹ️ Presentation of the project: building upon the developments of the finished CAPTure Horizon 2020 project (2015 – 2020) and its modifications to serve the ASTERIx-CAESar project.
    
    
• Techno-Economic Assessment of High-Temperature Air-based CSP Integrated with Compressed Air Energy Storage – CAES (CENER, DOOSAN Skoda Power, University of Seville, Roma Tre, CIEMAT – PSA)
  • Thursday 25 September 2025, session Emerging and Disruptive Concepts (14h00 – 16h00)
  • ℹ️ The first comprehensive techno-economic assessment of the ASTERIx-CAESar concept highlights the Chile use case, featuring a power-scale analysis, a detailed techno-economic optimisation, and a benchmarking against alternative energy storage solutions. The findings underline the strong potential of integrating Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) with Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES).
    
    
• Concentrated Solar Flux Measurements Based on Optical Fibers and Photodiodes (University of Seville, IMDEA Energy, CENER)
  • Thursday 25 September 2025, session Measurement Systems, Devices, and Procedures 3 (14h00 – 15h40)
  • ℹ️ The use of optical fibers and photodiodes for concentrated solar flux measurement is explored, focusing on their advantages and limitations. Experimental validation in solar simulators confirms the feasibility, although challenges remain, particularly related to the numerical aperture, thermal effects, and damage.
    

Posters

• CFD Analysis of an Open Volumetric Air Receiver and Comparison with 10 kWth Solar Tests (CIEMAT-PSA, CENER, Fraunhofer IKTS, Walter E.C. Pritzkow Spezialkeramik)
  • Wednesday 24 September (18h30 – 19h30)
  • ℹ️ For the link to the poster description, visit here
    
    
• Hydrodynamic, Thermal and Optical Evaluation of Ceramic Foam Solar Absorbers (CIEMAT-PSA, CENER, Fraunhofer IKTS, Walter E.C. Pritzkow Spezialkeramik)
  • Wednesday 24 September (18h30 – 19h30)
  • ℹ️ For the link to the poster description, visit here
    
    
• Advancing Heliostat Aiming Strategies in Solar Tower Plants (CIEMAT-PSA)
  • Thursday 25 September (18h30 – 19h30)
  • ℹ️ For the link to the poster description, visit here
    
    
• Measurement of Concentrated Solar Flux in Solar Simulator using Optical Fiber-Based Radiometer (University of Seville, CENER, IMDEA)
  • Wednesday 24 September, (18h30 – 19h30)
  • ℹ️ The feasibility of using an optical fiber-based radiometer for measuring concentrated solar flux is analysed. The analysis is supported by experimental results in a solar simulator, comparing fiber-based measurements with those from a Gardon radiometer.
    

View the entire SolarPACES 2025 conference programme on the event website.

Side event – CST4ALL

ASTERIx-CAESar is also on the agenda of this side event: EU CST Projects & Research Agenda. It focuses on EU-funded research in the Concentrated Solar Thermal (CST) area and how these projects contribute to fulfilling the CST Implementation plan of the SET-Plan.

• 25 September 2025
• 9h00 – 11h00
• ASTERIx-CAESar will be presented by Fritz Zaversky (CENER) at 9h25
• Hybrid event – registrations are free but mandatory via this link

For more information on this event, visit here.