Current Progress of Activities at EU-SOLARIS ERIC: The European Research Infrastructure Consortium for CSP Technologies

An ERIC, established by a decision of the European Commission, is a legal entity possessing legal personality and full legal capacity acknowledged across all EU Member States. Its primary role is to establish and operate a research infrastructure on a non-economic basis. Under the initiative of Spain, France, Germany, and Cyprus as Members, with Portugal as an Observer, a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) has been formed. This consortium, named "European Solar Research Infrastructure for Concentrated Solar Power" (EU-SOLARIS ERIC) is established in accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No. 723/2009 of 25 June 2009. The establishment of an ERIC was sanctioned by the European Commission, as evidenced in Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/2297 of 19 October 2022 [1]. The inaugural assembly of the EU-SOLARIS ERIC took place at the CIEMAT Headquarters in Madrid on 12th January 2023. During this gathering, the General Assembly was officially convened, and the Statutes along with other governing documents were formally endorsed. At the time of composing this document, negotiations for the accession of three additional countries—Greece, Turkey, and Italy—are underway. This paper summarizes the R&D activities carried out during this first year of the ERIC, particularly, we describe the new projects achieved.