Low-Pressure Steam Generation with Concentrating Solar Energy and Different Heat Upgrade Technologies: Potential in the European Industry

The industry is currently responsible for around 21% of the total CO₂ emissions, mainly due to heat production with fossil fuel burners. There are already different technologies on the market that can potentially reduce CO₂ emissions. Nevertheless, the first step for their introduction is to analyze their potential on a global scale by detecting in which countries each of them is more attractive, given their energy prices and resources. The present work involves a techno-economic analysis of different alternatives to replace industrial gas boilers for low-pressure steam production at 120 °C and 150 °C. Solar Heat for Industrial Processes (SHIP) was compared with Electric Boilers (EBs), High-Temperature Heat Pumps (HTHPs), and Absorption Heat Transformers (AHTs). SHIP systems have the potential to reach payback periods in the range of 4 to 5 years in countries with Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI) values above 1400 kWh/m²/year, which is reached in Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal, and Romania. HTHPs and AHTs lead to the lowest payback periods, Levelized Cost of Heat (LCOH), and highest CO₂ emission savings. For both AHTs and HTHPs, payback periods of below 1.5 years can be reached, particularly in countries with electricity-to-gas price ratios below 2.0.