ABOUT THE PROJECT
Tittle: In Vivo Solar Technologies OM : EXperimenTal Design in Harsh climate and acceptance contexts
Acronym: InVivo-nEXTh
Project ID: JC-Energy-2014 – Project ENERG-11-192 INVIVO NEXTH
Website: http://so-med.org/page/projet-invivo-nexth
Project Summary
Europe is a leadership on the Solar R&D technologies markets with therefore a diversity of mature components related: sensors, storage, sealing, connectors, grid connection,... The Sahara represents an exceptional solar energy potential for MENA countries as well as European countries for production/exportation. Some solar technologies are already experimented in situ but their interaction with the environment leads to variable performances that Operations and Maintenance (O&M) procedures are most of time unable to completely smooth. The innovative contribution of InVivo nEXTh project is the design of "in vivo" O&M experiments 1) on a large sample of PV plants of 12 sites in the Mediterranean area 2) taking into account the climate diversity and social requirements in order to provide Mediterranean O&M best practices. To reach this goal, the InVivo nEXTh activities involve major Mediterranean stakeholders and 4 main tools/studies from 3 different disciplines: Solar Energy Efficiency, Statistic, and Information System.
The three major outcomes of InVivo nEXTh project are the following:
• InVivo nEXTh Database - A large set of data on O&M PV systems events and monitoring resulting of surveys and experiments conducted in the Mediterranean region. A subset of the InVivo nEXTh database will be shared with the scientific community.
• InVivo nEXTh Indicators - Significant indicators/factors of performance and the efficiency assessment of PV systems in harsh Mediterranean.
• InVivo nEXTh Best Practices - Recommendations based on the previous indicators to provide O&M Mediterranean best practices. These recommendations will be disseminated by using the Mediterranean network of the consortium.
Therefore, “In vivo” identification of Mediterranean best practices of PV systems O&M may be considered as a key booster of well-balanced Euro-Mediterranean scientific research. And Invivo nEXTh consortium will devote effort of 15 PMs during 36 months.
Project Funding
The InVivo nEXTh Project is financed by ERANETMED (ERANET with the Mediterranean Partner Countries), which forms part of the 7th Framework Programme of European Union (EU) research initiatives. ERANETMED addresses to promote a unified European approach to collaborating with the Mediterranean in the field of science and technology research for innovation and sustainable development, having as primary objective the creation of a “European Research Area Network” for the Mediterranean Partner Countries. ERANETMED unites eight EU countries (Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Malta, Spain, Portugal), as well as Turkey, with six Mediterranean Partner Countries (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia) and the international organisation Centre International de Hautes Études Agronomiques Méditerranéennes (CIHEAM-Bari).
Regarding the InVivo nEXTh Project, the financial support provided by the ERANETMED consortium comes from the following domestic institutions:
• ANR Agence Nationale de la Recherche, France.
• ASRT Academy of Scientific Research and Technology, Egypt.
• CNRSF Conseil National de la Recherche Scientifique, France.
• DGRSDT Direction la Recherche Scientifique et du Développement Technologique, Algeria.
• MESRST Tunisian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Tunisia.
• MINECO Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Spain.
• STDF Science, Technology Development Fund, Egypt.
Contact the InVivo nEXTh consortium
solenn.anquetin@ines-solaire.org
