Concentrated solar thermal systems for decarbonising industrial processes

Expected Outcome:

Renewable heating can be directly used to efficiently decarbonise industrial processes. Concentrated solar thermal technologies offer a great potential to supply renewable heat for industry for temperatures between 150°C - 400°C. Nevertheless, efforts are still required to demonstrate these technologies for a variety of industrial processes. Proposals are expected to contribute to all the following outcomes:

• Showcase the capacity of concentrated solar thermal systems to largely meet the heat demand of industrial processes and to achieve a yearly solar fraction of at least 50%.
• Increase competitiveness of concentrated solar thermal for industrial applications. This is to be proven by an economically feasible business case; by reducing the Levelised Cost of Heating (LCoH); and by valorising and promoting the competitive advantages of the technology such as heat storage, flexibility, and energy security.

Scope:

The proposals are expected to demonstrate concentrated solar technologies for heat production (within the 150°C - 400°C range), combined with storage, feeding the generated heat to existing heating and/or cooling processes in industry, e.g., drying, melting, sterilisation, refrigeration, etc. The proposals are expected to efficiently integrate the solar heat system in the selected industrial application. To a possible extent, the proposals should optimise energy efficiency and heat recovery of the industrial process to maximise the coverage of the heat demand by the solar system and to ensure an efficient solar investment. Hybridisation with other on-site renewable energy technologies could be considered. However, the core solutions are expected to focus on the concentrated solar thermal part and not on the industrial process or on the hybrid renewable energy technologies. The proposed solution is expected to be demonstrated in all possible solar incidence, and for a continuous period of at least 6 months. The replicability potential to other industrial processes should also be taken into account. The proposals are expected to address the techno-economic feasibility and the environmental impact of the proposed systems, as well as specific issues related to the integration of the solar systems in the industrial process such as surface availability. The proposal is expected to include a clear go/no go milestone before entering the deployment phase. Before this go/no-go milestone, the project is expected to submit: i) a proof of solid engagement of the industrial demonstration party, ii) all needed permits for deployment, iii) credible and detailed engineering plans, and iv) a complete business and implementation plan. The use of the European Research Infrastructure for concentrated solar power EU-SOLARIS is encouraged but not mandatory. Technology Readiness Level - Technology readiness level expected from completed projects Activities are expected to achieve TRL 7 by the end of the project – see General Annex B. Activities may start at any TRL.

Submissions open on 03 December 2026.

Part of call HORIZON-CL5-2027-02

Type of action: HORIZON Innovation Actions

Programme period: 2021 - 2027

Priorities: RePowerEU, DigitalAgenda, AI

"> General conditions

1. Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limit and layout

described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.

Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System.

2. Eligible Countries

described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes. A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide .

3. Other Eligible Conditions

In line with the “ restriction on control in innovation actions in critical technology areas ” delineated in General Annex B of the General Annexes, entities established in an eligible country but which are directly or indirectly controlled by China or by a legal entity established in China are not eligible to participate in the action.

If projects use satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation and/or related timing data and services, beneficiaries must make use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS (other data and services may additionally be used).

described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.

4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion

described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.

5a. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds

are described in