MAGTEL OPERACIONES SL

Their core work

MAGTEL OPERACIONES is a Spanish industrial engineering and operations company based in Córdoba, Andalusia — one of Europe's most active regions for concentrated solar power (CSP) deployment. They participate in R&D consortia as an industrial partner, contributing real-world operational expertise to advanced solar thermal power projects. Their H2020 work spans advanced materials for CSP efficiency improvement and the integration of supercritical CO2 (sCO2) power cycles with molten salt thermal storage — both aimed at driving down the cost of solar electricity. They represent the bridge between laboratory-scale innovation and bankable industrial implementation in next-generation solar thermal plants.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their first H2020 project (IN-POWER, 2017) focused on advanced materials as the enabler of better CSP performance — a relatively upstream, materials-driven approach with no specific system-level keywords recorded. By 2020, with SOLARSCO2OL, their emphasis shifted clearly toward full power cycle engineering: sCO2 thermodynamics, turbomachinery, molten salt heating, and cost metrics like LCOE. This trajectory suggests they are moving from participating in materials research to taking a stronger role in system integration and commercial viability of solar thermal power. The long duration of SOLARSCO2OL (to 2026) indicates a deepening commitment to next-generation CSP cycles rather than incremental improvements.

MAGTEL OPERACIONES is moving toward supercritical CO2 solar thermal systems — a technology expected to replace conventional steam Rankine cycles in next-generation CSP plants — and is likely positioning itself as an industrial integrator for this transition.

How they like to work

MAGTEL has never led an H2020 project — all participation is as a consortium partner, which is typical for industrial companies that contribute operational expertise and test-bed access rather than research leadership. Both projects used the Innovation Action (IA) funding scheme, meaning they work in consortia that are explicitly pushing toward market-ready solutions, not basic research. With 34 unique partners across 9 countries from just 2 projects, they engage in large, diverse consortia — suggesting they are comfortable navigating complex multi-partner projects and likely bring industry credibility that helps consortia pass evaluation.

With 34 unique consortium partners across 9 countries from only 2 projects, MAGTEL has built a disproportionately wide network for its H2020 footprint — each project brought roughly 17 partners on average. Their geographic reach is European, with a likely concentration of partners in southern Europe given the CSP focus.

What sets them apart

MAGTEL OPERACIONES is a non-SME industrial company based in Córdoba — the heart of Spain's CSP belt — which gives them proximity to operating solar thermal plants that most research partners lack. This makes them valuable in Innovation Action consortia as the industrial actor who can validate technologies at or near real operating conditions. Their combination of thermal energy storage (molten salts), sCO2 turbomachinery, and LCOE focus is a rare overlap that positions them well for next-generation dispatchable solar power projects.

Highlights from their portfolio

• SOLARSCO2OL
  Their largest project by far (EUR 1.93M, running to 2026), it targets one of the most promising next-generation solar power technologies — supercritical CO2 cycles — and represents their most technically specific and commercially relevant work to date.
• IN-POWER
  Their entry into H2020 R&D collaboration, focused on advanced materials to quadruple CSP output — establishing their credentials in the solar thermal sector before moving to system-level sCO2 work.