PROMES-CNRS
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique – Processes, Materials and Solar Energy laboratory
CNRS, French national centre of scientific research, is the largest governmental research organisation in France, with 1256 research units covering all fields of research. CNRS encourages collaboration projects and provides a strong administrative support to such projects, with dedicated staff on financial, legal, and administrative issues. PROMES laboratory is located in Odeillo – Font-Romeu (Félix Trombe Solar Furnace) and in Perpignan, and it has been involved in concentrated solar energy for more than 50 years. Its mission is the development of science and technology using unique properties of concentrated solar energy to enhance and create new applications of this renewable energy resource. The mission includes researches on materials and processes in the context of sustainable development: solar power plants, solar fuels, high temperature materials processing and testing. PROMES operates a unique set of concentrating solar systems (in particular solar furnaces and a solar tower) from the kW to the MW-scale and the French national platform for concentrating solar systems (SOCRATE). PROMES researches focus particularly on innovative application of concentrating solar systems in particular the development of new solar receivers and reactors involving particulates as heat transfer fluid or chemical reactants.