The U.S. Department of Energy’s NETL and its partner organizations are exploring concentrated solar applications, as well as conversion of waste products into fuels, in a project called “Coal Communities Regional Innovation Cluster (CCRIC)” in West Virginia’s Logan County ─ an effort supported by Congressionally directed funding.

NETL engineer Matthew Adams said the project could have implications for communities across the nation.

“CCRIC will demonstrate that concentrated solar power has many potential applications beyond just power production,” Adams said “Not only does CCRIC present exciting new opportunities for West Virginia but the work will also demonstrate that communities across the country can be more efficient by using renewable resources and by transforming waste, that would otherwise be costly to manage and dispose of, into a valuable commodity.”

West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin directed $4 million to the Lab, which will be used with over $40 million provided by NETL partners in CCRIC, to advance commercialization of concentrated solar technologies and mature an innovative waste-to-energy process.

Adams said there are two separate parts of the project.

The first is converting municipal solid waste into valuable fuels. The second is the concentrated solar work which focuses on conversion of solar energy into thermal energy and/or electrical power.

The solar energy component will demonstrate three separate applications for the technology. The first system will be a 24-hour concentrated solar electricity generation plant which utilizes thermal energy storage and commercially available gas and steam turbines to enable both daytime and nighttime power generation. The second system will utilize the concentrated solar technology to generate heat that is suitable for use in high temperature industrial processes. Finally, the third system will demonstrate the capability of the concentrated solar technology for enhanced oil and gas recovery applications.

The CCRIC project will be completed by five organizations. The prime recipient is the Region 2 Planning & Development Council located in Huntington, West Virginia. The subrecipients are:

• Logan County Commission, which is working the Region 2 Planning & Development Council to help transition coal communities to high potential energy technologies.
• Solis Power, which is the developer of the concentrated solar technology that will be demonstrated during the project.
• Trilogy Financial, which holds the patents for the waste to energy process.
• M2M Ventures, which will assist with the enhanced oil and gas recovery work.

NETL is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory that drives innovation and delivers technological solutions for an environmentally sustainable and prosperous energy future. By leveraging its world-class talent and research facilities, NETL is ensuring affordable, abundant and reliable energy that drives a robust economy and national security, while developing technologies to manage carbon across the full life cycle, enabling environmental sustainability for all Americans.