The Renewable Energies Chair - University of Évora (CER-UÉ, Portuguese acronym) celebrates, this November, ten years of existence since its constitution in 2010, completing the first decade of contributions to the energy transition.
Created in 2010, CER-UÉ's mission is to develop technological solutions and solar energy applications for the decarbonization of various sectors of the economy. The research activity is focused on photovoltaic solar energy and solar thermal energy, storage of thermal or electric energy, supply of solar energy for industry and agriculture, and strategies for integrating solar resources and energy systems, in addition to generation of solar thermal electricity.
CER-UÉ is involved in the development of different solar concentrators, using non-image optics concepts, an area in which it has specific skills and experience, applied to Fresnel-type linear concentrators, to specific concentrators that explore concepts such as beam down and stationary or quasi-stationary composite parabolic concentrators for medium temperature applications. These research activities in solar energy concentration fall within the scope of the National Research Infrastructure on Solar Energy Concentration (INIESC), which is coordinated by CER-UÉ, in partnership with the National Energy and Geology Laboratory, IP (LNEG), and which is part of the Portuguese Roadmap of Research Infrastructures (RNIE).
In the laboratory field, CER-UÉ has a set of experimental research infrastructures in the solar energy sector, such as the Évora Molten Salt Platform (EMSP), the Solar Concentrators Testing Platform (PECS), the Microgrid for Testing Photovoltaic and Electrical Energy Storage Systems (PV*EES), the Laboratory for the Development and Prototyping of Solar Technology and Energy Storage (SoLab) or the Solar DNI Assessment Network.
A multidisciplinary team, with training and competences in different areas, allows to develop research in areas such as the testing of solar collectors for the generation of heat from industrial processes, maintenance and optimization of photovoltaic systems, with application of module repair techniques, storage systems and differentiated applications, promotion of water treatment activities, training and capacity building activities, and participation in international cooperation networks between research infrastructures.
Currently, CER-UÉ has 13 research projects, either as a single research institution or as a member of transnational consortia, being applied in the national territory, mainly in Alentejo, but also in Europe and North Africa.
