The company will collaborate with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) on the two-year scheme, in which the DOE is investing €1.3m as part of its SunShot Initiative.
Abengoa will lead the systems integration work and the technical-financial analysis, focusing on the technology’s commercial potential.
Abengoa said the storage system will allow clean energy to be generated at maximum output without utilsing the solar field, which can be used to supply peak demand times on a particular day.
The new research program is expected to reduce costs of solar-thermal technology and increase efficiency.
Abengoa noted that the new research program will consolidate its position in developing new sustainable technology solutions, particularly in the solar R&D field.
The company has already worked with the DoE several times, most recently in December 2013 to develop new technologies for manufacturing and assembling parabolic trough collectors.
Abengoa presently has 1,223MW of installed capacity in commercial operation and 430MW under construction, that includes both solar-thermal and photovoltaic technology.
