COMPANY

Harnessing the sun

FRENELL is leading solar technology provider specialized in the engineering, procurement and construction of turn-key Concentrating Solar Power solutions. Our Solar Field with integrated Thermal Energy Storage system produces clean energy for our customers in the power, mining, oil and energy industry in international markets. The cutting edge solar technology is based on the Linear Fresnel collector principle and has been designed to provide solar power which is sustainable, cost competitive with conventional energy sources such as oil and gas and available around the clock. FRENELL's proven CSP technology generates steam with temperatures of up to 550°C. It can be applied for multiple purposes such as Power Generation, Seawater Desalination and Enhanced Oil Recovery - providing 24 hour fully dispatchable solar heat.

Martin Selig - Chief Executive Officer

As Chief Executive Officer, Martin Selig has been responsible for business development and overall strategy at FRENELL GmbH since 2015. Before that he was involved in the practical implementation of the Fresnel CSP technology as founder of Novatec Solar together with Dr. Max Mertins.
Under his leadership, the world's first Fresnel solar power plant PE2 was developed and implemented in Spain. He is a founding partner of the engineering office ip5, a spin-off company from the University of Karlsruhe, which specializes in development, design and implementation. Martin Selig holds an engineering degree from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

Dr. Max Mertins - Chief Technology Officer

Dr. Max Mertins is CTO of FRENELL GmbH and focuses on the research and design activities of the company. He holds a PhD in CSP Technology based on linear Fresnel systems from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany. Dr. Max Mertins worked as a researcher at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Freiburg. For his groundbreaking research in the field of Fresnel collector technology, Dr. Max Mertins received the renowned Otto Haxel Prize of KIT in 2011.

DMS^® Demo Loop - Molten Salt Demonstrator on PE1

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The team of FRENELL developed its proprietary DMS^® system technology and required plant components from 2012 to 2015 and successfully completed field tests at their own DMS^® Demonstration Plant with a thermal capacity of up to 1.8 MWth of rated power, which is an integrated part of the PE1 R&D power plant in Spain. The DMS^® development was supported by BASF, a major supplier of high-purity molten salts as used in CSP plants. BASF has more than 20 years experience in operating molten salt as heat transfer media in its own chemical plant facilities. With the DMS^® Demonstration plant PE1 FRENELL has proven that all operation and safety challenges related to the use of molten salt work reliably and with good performance. Read the press release.

PE2 - World's first utility scale linear fresnel solar thermal power plant

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Located adjacent to the PE1 site, FRENELL (formerly known as Novatec Solar) developed and built the 30MWel solar thermal power station, Puerto Errado 2 (PE2). The construction of this utility scale project commenced in April 2010 and the plant has been in full commercial operation since August 2012. A banking consortium of Commerzbank, BayernLB and Rabobank provided debt funding to the project based on an Euler Hermes Export Credit Agency (“ECA”) guarantee that covered the non-recourse project finance structure. Since start of operations, PE2 has achieved availability factor of 99% exceeding the contractual availability factor of 97%.

LIDDELL - A World's first integration of solar thermal technology with a coal fired power station

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In August 2010, FRENELL (formerly known as Novatec Solar) also signed an EPC contract for the turnkey delivery of a 9.3MWth solar field at the 2,000 MWel Liddell coal fired power station in New South Wales, Australia. The project is a demonstration plant to show how using solar thermal technology can increase fuel efficiency and reduce fuel consumption and costs in a large scale conventional thermal power plant. The solar field is integrated into the water-steam cycle of the power station and was successfully handed over to the client in May 2012.

PE1 - First Linear Frenell DSG Plant connected to a public grid

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FRENELL (formerly known as Novatec Solar) developed, designed and built Puerto Errado 1 (PE1), a 1.4MWel CSP plant in Spain. PE1 was built to demonstrate and prove the technology, its manufacturing process, solar field performance and operating regime. The plant has been in successful commercial operation since 2009 and is used as research and development facility to test and validate new system features and components. Within this project FRENELL performed all EPC tasks including project and subcontract management for the power block.

FRENELL GmbH │ Lotzbeckstraße 9 │D-76185 Karlsruhe │ Germany

FRENELL INDIA Private Limited │ C-49, First Floor, Gulmohar Park │IN-New Delhi 110049│ India

FRENELL SICILY SRL │ Via della Mostra 3 │IT-39100 Bolzano BZ│ Italy

To get in touch with us, please use the contact form below, send us an email to info[at]frenell.de or just give us a call under +49 721 6699 755-0

We are always on the search for new enthusiastic team members to share the idea of an emission free and cost competitive solar power technology! Please feel free to send us your CV!

Job Vacancy: CAD Design Engineer

Job Vacancy: Electrical and I&C Engineer

Harnessing the sun

About us

Management

Martin Selig - Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Max Mertins - Chief Technology Officer

Completed Projects

DMS^® Demo Loop - Molten Salt Demonstrator on PE1

PE2 - World's first utility scale linear fresnel solar thermal power plant

LIDDELL - A World's first integration of solar thermal technology with a coal fired power station

PE1 - First Linear Frenell DSG Plant connected to a public grid

Global presence

Contact us

Careers

Harnessing the sun

About us

Management

Martin Selig - Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Max Mertins - Chief Technology Officer

Completed Projects

DMS® Demo Loop - Molten Salt Demonstrator on PE1

PE2 - World's first utility scale linear fresnel solar thermal power plant

LIDDELL - A World's first integration of solar thermal technology with a coal fired power station

PE1 - First Linear Frenell DSG Plant connected to a public grid

Global presence

Contact us

Careers

DMS^® Demo Loop - Molten Salt Demonstrator on PE1