The Role of Innovation in Industry Product Deployment: Developing Thermal Energy Storage for Concentrated Solar Power

Open Access

Abstract

Industries with fast‐developing technologies and knowledge‐intensive business services rely on the development of scientific knowledge for their growth. This is also true in the renewable energy industry such as in concentrating solar power (CSP) plants, which have undergone intense development and expansion in the last two decades. Yet knowledge generation is not sufficient; its dissemination and internalization by the industry is indispensable for new product development. This paper contributes to providing empirical evidence on the known link between knowledge development and firm growth. In 10 years the cost of electricity produced through CSP has decreased five‐fold. This decrease has only been possible due to innovation projects developed through a complex network of research and development (R&D) collaborations and intense investment, both public and (to a greater extent) private. The development and construction of pilot plants and demonstration facilities are shown to be key in maturing innovations for commercialization. This is an example of how the private sector is contributing to the decarbonisation of our energy system, contributing to the objectives of climate change mitigation. ; Funding: The work was partially funded by the by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades de España (RTI2018‐093849‐B‐C31‐ MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE) and by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades ‐ Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) (RED2018‐102431‐T). Abengoa thanks the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation that has allowed us to finance R&D in CSP: CDTI (IDI‐20090402, ITC‐ 20111050, ConSOLida CENIT 2008‐1005, CDTI IDI‐20090393, ITC‐20131017); and European Commission: H2020 programme (H2020‐LCE‐2015 Sun‐to Liquid, H2020‐LCE‐2015 Solpart). We thank the partners of the consortium who have allowed these developments and thank all members of the Abengoa CSP department Acknowledgments: Dr. Cabeza would like to thank the Catalan Government for the quality accreditation given to her research group GREiA (2017 SGR 1537). GREiA is certified agent TECNIO in the category of technology developers from the Government of Catalonia. This work is partially supported by ICREA under the ICREA Academia programme. We would like to thank the partners of the consortium who have allowed these developments and thank all members of the Abengoa CSP department.