Description
The main objective of the project SOLARCIM is to develop new prefabricated foundations of reinforced or prestressed concrete for photovoltaic and solar thermal plants. These foundations will be suitable on soils with complicated geotechnical conditions where conventional foundations can’t be used. Moreover, these new foundations will allow and facilitate the installation of such plants in places where specific machinery is restricted or water is limited. The new foundations are based on two different solutions; precast piles and pile caps and precast slab with a saving of material of 45% and 50% respectively, compared to traditional foundations. It will be achieved a reduction in execution terms of 50% because they don't need previous works such as; excavations, formworks, in-situ concreting or specific installation machinery. These foundations can also reach 35% execution costs saving. With saving of materials, the control of manufacturing and execution processes achieves a reduction of environmental footprint through less greenhouse gas emission. Outcomes are in line with the SET plan and IEA road map related to solar plants development.
Summary of project results
The project aim was to develop innovative and efficient foundations for solar thermal and photovoltaic plants to be used in soils with complex geotechnical characteristics, providing technical and economical improvements to traditional methods.The need for the project arises from great technical and economic difficulties of applying traditional foundations in cases where due to their geotechnical characteristics, the application of traditional foundations for such structures are not recommended.The initial idea was to develop one design for photovoltaic plants and other for parabolic solar thermal power plants, but the project has evolved into the development of 4 prototypes foundation:2 for the photovoltaic case and 2 for the thermal one.The designs obtained have not only met, but also exceeded our expectations in offering excellent structural behavior and optimal manufacturing processes while allowing for significant cost and time saving.
Summary of bilateral results