They have become new landmarks for Jülich: the two solar towers of the German Aerospace Center (DLR). They are part of the test facility for commercial solar thermal power plants and for the development of solar fuels.
On an area of about ten hectares, more than 2,000 movable mirrors (heliostats) capture sunlight, concentrate it, and direct it to the two solar towers. A control software developed at DLR can align subsets of the mirrors so that multiple experiments can take place simultaneously.
Solar researchers at DLR test new components and processes in Jülich to further develop solar tower power plants. The goal of the research is to achieve higher temperatures and better efficiency to reduce the levelized cost of electricity. A steam generator inside the tower uses high temperatures to convert water into steam, which drives a turbine that produces CO2-free electricity via a generator. The plant has an electrical capacity of 1.5 megawatts. While the generated electricity can be fed into the local medium-voltage grid, DLR does not use the facility for commercial electricity production; it is utilized solely for research purposes.
In addition, the DLR Institute for Future Fuels investigates manufacturing processes for solar fuels such as hydrogen and the use of high-temperature solar heat for industrial processes.
