Solar for industrial process heat: A review of technologies, analysis approaches, and potential applications in the United States

• Published in: Energy (Oxford) Vol. 206; no. C; p. 118083
• Main Authors: Schoeneberger, Carrie A., McMillan, Colin A., Kurup, Parthiv, Akar, Sertac, Margolis, Robert, Masanet, Eric
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.09.2020; Elsevier BV; Elsevier
• Subjects: Barriers to SIPH; Energy consumption; Energy efficiency; Industrial energy; Industrial process heating; Modelling; Process heat; PV electric heating; Renewable energy; Reviews; Solar thermal; United States > US; Energy efficiency; Industrial process heating; Solar thermal; PV electric heating; Barriers to SIPH
• ISSN: 0360-5442; 1873-6785
• DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2020.118083

Renewable energy integration in the industrial sector is a key step in achieving low-carbon production systems. Solar for industrial process heat (SIPH) is gaining attention towards this goal and has the potential for significant scale up, particularly in the United States, which combines a large and diverse industrial sector with rich solar resources. Currently, there are knowledge gaps related to a granular understanding of industrial energy use and of technical and economic parameters for evaluating SIPH adoption in the U.S. In this review, we discuss the industrial process heating landscape, the current state of SIPH technologies, their potential applications in the context of U.S. industry, the status of modeling and data for determining potential, known barriers to adoption, and future research paths. This review highlights industries and SIPH technologies for policy recommendation and provides insights on modeling approaches for evaluation of SIPH projects. •Majority of demand for U.S. industrial process heat is less than or equal to 300 °C.•Solar thermal and PV electric heating can meet a wide variety of U.S. industrial process heating needs.•Modeling SIPH potential must be done at the unit process level, considering hourly demand.•Energy efficiency measures may provide economic benefits for SIPH projects.•SIPH adoption in manufacturing depends on process integration and economic factors.