Technology
Challenge
Stabilizing power grids
The use of solar energy with concentrated solar power – CSP for short – is significant because the heat generated in CSP plants can be stored very cost-effectively in order to be retrieved later as required. Therefore, CSP plants can stabilize the power grids with increasingly fluctuating energy generation from photovoltaics (PV) and wind. There are a variety of approaches to configuring CSP plants. However, there is still a lack of a concept that is so universal, simple and at the same time cost-effective that it can be used on an industrial scale with similar contributions to those already generated by PV and wind energy.
Solution
Intelligent, sustainable, and cost-effective
Hueck Solar Energy GmbH (HSE, limited liability company under German law) has a new key component for CSP. The patented solution makes it possible to easily configure and cost-effectively scale CSP plants.
HSE’s patented receiver is the incandescent component at the top of the solar power plant’s tower. The receiver transfers the heat from concentrated solar radiation to the air flowing inside.
Advantages of the new technology:
System Configuration
In HSE’s solar thermal system, unpressurized air serves as the heat transfer medium, instead of the currently common molten salt. The air is heated by concentrated solar radiation in the newly developed receiver, which is closed to the environment. Heat is stored in modular solid-state storage units. This makes the energy available for several hours when the sun is not shining. This configuration not only reduces the system’s complexity but also its acquisition and operating costs.
The hot air can be used day and night either directly as process heat or for steam generation. The steam drives a steam turbine with a generator for electricity production or supplies heat to an industrial process.
Due to the modular design, all components of this system configuration are suitable for industrial mass production. The entire system has a simple structure, and the assembly effort on site can be minimized through industrial prefabrication. As a mass-produced product, this technology has the potential for enormous cost reductions in the manufacture, construction, operation, and maintenance of solar thermal systems.
Solar Receiver
The central innovation of the described system configuration is the solar thermal receiver with its modular design.
The receiver components that heat up significantly during operation are made of silicon carbide (SiC) ceramic. They are manufactured using 3D printing. 3D printing of SiC is an emerging technology that has opened up entirely new possibilities for shaping high-temperature heat exchangers. The photo below shows SiC cooling pins inside a receiver cap. They transfer the solar heat to the air flowing within.
The sealing of adjacent components is achieved with the aid of temperature-resistant seals. The thermally low-stressed components are made of steel. To a small extent, a receiver contains other materials.
Solar Energy
Potential and Technologies
The following quote remains true:
“Within 6 hours deserts receive more energy from the sun than humankind consumes within a year.”
Accordingly, solar energy can sustainably cover humanity’s entire energy demand.
The mainOther technologies for utilizing solar energy exist, but they are not relevant for electricity generation. technologies for utilizing solar energy are photovoltaics (PV) for direct electricity generation and concentrated solar power (CSP) for thermal applications and electricity generation with turbines and generators. Below, these two technologies, which complement each other well in principle, are contrasted to illustrate the potential contribution of HSE innovation.
Potential of PV
By the end of 2024, the global cumulative PV capacity was approximately 2,200 GW. To replace the annual electricity output of this PV capacity, about 370 large nuclear power plants would be needed. Although PV only supplied 2.8% of the world’s primary energy demand, the growth rate of this market was enormous, reaching 32% in 2024. On every single calendar day, PV systems with a capacity of 1,240 MW were installed worldwide, totaling 452 GW in 2024. For 2025, a new installed capacity of approximately 655 GW is projected.
© Francisco Javier Ramos Rosellon / Alamy
Limits of PV
Depending on the sun’s position and the weather, PV electricity generation fluctuates. Balancing these fluctuations, storing PV energy for the night and for longer periods, and providing it in locations without high solar irradiation are problems that have not yet been satisfactorily solved.
Furthermore, PV lacks rotating mass. This is essential for stabilizing electricity grids. Electronic systems cannot fully replace such rotating masses.
Potential of CSP
For storing solar energy during the day and retrieving it at night, concentrated solar power (CSP) has the potential to overshadow all other conceivable technologies for this purpose. A key reason for this is the possibility of very simple, sustainable, and cost-effective generation and storage of solar heat at a very high temperature level.
Furthermore, CSP includes rotating masses for stabilizing power grids.
© Imaginechina Limited / Alamy
A CSP technology that meets all requirements to become a mass product in sun-rich regions ideally complements PV and therefore has at least as great a market potential as PV has already impressively achieved.
Previous Limits of CSP
To date, CSP has remained a niche technology: by the end of 2024, only about 7.2 GW had been installed worldwide. This deficit is due to the fact that, so far, none of the many different CSP technologies has fully met the requirements of a mass product. These requirements are described here.
Only when a technology without technical flaws achieves high production volumes can the cost reductions required for a mass product be realized. This is where HSE technology’s crucial contribution as a future mass product lies.
Market
The market potential for the introduction and subsequent scaling of HSE’s new technology is at least as large in sunny regions as the market potential for PV. Accordingly, we are experiencing a high level of interest in this solution that complements PV.
Company
History
In the spring of 2010, the first considerations for a CSP technology that can be used as a mass product began. This resulted in the development of a new type of solar thermal plant.
The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) supported the work on the solar receiver as a key component for the new system configuration from July 2021 to March 2024. In the joint project “SolarRetrofit,” Siemens Energy and the Institute for Solar Research of the German Aerospace Center e.V. (DLR) were involved. Successful receiver tests were carried out in a test facility in Mülheim, and another test facility was built in the artificial sun “Synlight” of the DLR in Jülich.
Hueck Solar Energy
The Hueck Solar Energy GmbH was founded in March 2024 by the brothers Dr.-Ing. Ulrich Hueck (CEO) and Dr. Julian Hueck (CFO) as a startup company.
The Hueck Solar Energy GmbH was founded in March 2024 by the brothers Dr.-Ing. Ulrich Hueck (CEO) and Dr. Julian Hueck (CFO) as a startup company.
In January 2025, the receiver technology developed by Dr. Ulrich Hueck at Siemens Energy, including the property rights, was completely taken over. The new technology has already won two innovation competitions by ACWA Power in South Africa and by DEWA in the United Arab Emirates.
Hueck Solar Energy GmbH is working on the further development of the solar receiver and the associated system configuration. The most modern methods are used. In the artificial sun “Synlight” of the DLR in Jülich, tests are pending with a receiver consisting of seven modules. Following this, tests with a significantly larger receiver installation are planned in the local solar tower plant. The innovative solar receiver and the associated system configuration will then be implemented with a small pilot plant.
The goal is the rapid market launch of the well-developed, innovative product.
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