Concentrated solar thermal,
thermal storage & solar fuels.
My group works at the intersection of thermodynamics, renewable-energy systems modelling and experimental thermal storage — translating the SET Plan agenda into laboratory-scale and industrial-scale demonstrations through a portfolio of EU Horizon Europe and national projects.
Four interlocking research lines
Modelling of renewable energy systems
Thermodynamic and thermo- / exergo-economic modelling of next-generation generation and storage systems. The aim: cut analytical complexity, expose performance trends, and identify the highest-leverage design improvements before hardware is committed.
Thermal energy storage
Packed-bed TES with rocks, ceramics and phase-change materials — combining numerical models and experiments to address heat-transfer, thermal-stability and material-selection challenges. Storage is what unlocks dispatchable solar thermal.
Solar fuel production
Concentrated sunlight driving chemistry: hydrogen and synthetic hydrocarbons via thermochemical and plasma-assisted routes. A renewable, carbon-neutral pathway that complements electrification where electrons alone are not enough.
Zero / positive-energy buildings & districts
Designing islanded and grid-supportive systems sized to local demand and resource. The hard part is not generation — it is matching intermittency with the right storage at the right scale, especially in off-grid and blackout-prone regions.
since 2016
Europe projects
supervised
students
Ongoing funded projects
SunFusion
Advanced Sustainable Biofuels Production from Purified Microalgae and Oleaginous Yeasts via Integrated Solar Hydrothermal Liquefaction
FLUWS
Flexible Upcycled Waste-Material based Sensible Thermal Energy Storage for CSP
SOLARIZE
Bringing EU-SOLARIS ERIC to its Zenith — the European research infrastructure for concentrating solar thermal
PeCATHS
Photo-Electrocatalytic Routes for Long-Term Sustainable Hydrogen Storage
HybridPlus
Advanced HYBRID solar plant with PCM storage solutions in sCO₂ cycles
SolarHub
A Greek-Turkish Solar Energy Excellence Hub to Advance the European Green Deal
GREENOLIVE
Green Mediterranean through Solar Driven Decarbonization of Industries
STT4SET
Solar Thermal Technologies: Support for the Implementation of the SET Plan
List of completed funded projects
- 2023–2027
LEGOFIT — Adaptable technological solutions based on early design actions for the construction and renovation of Energy-Positive Homes. EU Horizon Europe (101104058).
- 2023–2026
TÜBİTAK ARDEB 1001 (222M243) — Optimization of Transition Strategies to Next-Generation Clean Energy Technologies with Multistage Random Programming.
- 2023–2025
NETPORE / TÜBİTAK 2215 (123M335) — Sea-urchin-like aluminium-oxide nanoporous spheres (DECALON) to improve thermal-energy-storage capacity of phase-change materials.
- 2022–2025
PED-ACT — Auto-characterization of PEDs for digital references towards iterative process optimisation. ERA-NET / TÜBİTAK (122N780). ped-act.com
- 2022–2023
Modeling and Techno-economic Analysis of a Hybrid Renewable Energy Power Plant. METU NCC Campus Research Fund (GAP-302-2022-10932).
- 2020–2023
SolarTwins — Solar Twinning to Create Solar Research Twins. EU Horizon 2020 (856619).
- 2019–2023
SFERA III — Solar Facilities for the European Research Area, Third Phase. EU Horizon 2020 (823802).
- 2018–2021
Estimation of Solar Irradiation at a Tilted Surface at METU NCC. Campus Research Fund (BAP-FEN-18-D-8).
- 2016–2018
Modeling of CO₂ dissociation using a solar pond. Campus Research Fund (BAP-16-YG-3).
- 2006–2009
TÜBİTAK MAG (105M244) — Solar-assisted air-conditioning system with zeolite.
Graduate students
Currently supervised — METU Mechanical Engineering
- Umut GüçlüPhD · Supervisor
- Zahra MedghalchiPhD · Supervisor
- Gül Nihal Asena GürbüzPhD · Supervisor
- Levent GünerPhD · Supervisor
- Yasin Ataberk DemirMSc · Supervisor
- Ekin Baran ÖzerMSc · Supervisor
- Abdul Rehman MustafaMSc · Supervisor
Open positions
Prospective PhD and MSc students with strong backgrounds in thermodynamics, heat transfer, numerical methods or experimental thermal sciences are encouraged to get in touch. Particular interest in candidates motivated by concentrated solar thermal, packed-bed TES design, and solar-driven chemistry.
→ write to: ota[…]n@metu.edu.tr
→ with: CV · transcripts · brief research statement
Completed theses
METU — Mechanical Engineering (Ankara)
- Numerical Investigation of Radial-Flow Packed-Bed Thermal Energy Storage Systems: Effects of Particle Size, Layer Ratio and Aspect Ratio Gül Nihal Asena Gürbüz Dinçer · MSc · Supervisor Graduated September 2025
- Nanotextured Solar Selective Metallic Surfaces for Parabolic Trough Collector Receivers Levent Güner · MSc · Principal Supervisor (Co: Asst. Prof. Dr. Alperen Günay, Bilkent) Graduated January 2025
- Novel PSO-GA Complex Nonlinear Optimization of Hybrid Renewable Energy Systems: PV-Wind-PTC Integration with Energy Storage Systems Zahra Medghalchi · MSc · Supervisor Graduated June 2024
- Optimal Sizing of Hybrid Microgrids with Consideration of Global Warming Effects: A MARS and GRG Approach Yavuz Yılmaz · MSc · Principal Supervisor (Co: Prof. Dr. Gerhard-Wilhelm Weber) Graduated April 2024
METU NCC — Sustainable Environment & Energy Systems
- Sizing Energy System with Hybrid Energy Storage under Net Metering Considering Grid Stability Muhammed Haseeb Rasool · Co-Supervisor (Principal: Asst. Prof. Dr. Canraş Batunlu) Graduated July 2022
- Demand-Side Management using Setpoint Control and PV Systems Syed Mohammad Meesam Raza · Co-Supervisor (Principal: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Murat Fahrioğlu) Graduated September 2021
- Long-Term Energy Yield Estimation of a Solar Photovoltaic Power Plant in METU NCC Deniz Gören · Co-Supervisor (Principal: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Murat Fahrioğlu) Graduated January 2021
- Development of a Screening Tool to Assess the Feasibility of Solar-to-Steam Application for the Purpose of Enhanced Oil Recovery Alfred Ejiro Abukubu · Principal Supervisor (Co: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Emre Artun) Graduated September 2020
- Estimation of Diffuse Solar Irradiation and Its Effects on PV Power Plant Production at METU NCC Genco Kavas · Supervisor Graduated August 2019
- Effects of Ambient Temperature and Drive Cycle on Electric Vehicle Charging Using Photovoltaic Systems Erim Gürer · Principal Supervisor (Co: Asst. Prof. Dr. Tuğçe Yüksel Bediz) Graduated August 2019
- Experimental and Numerical Analysis of a Salt Gradient Solar Pond Pelin Güven · Principal Supervisor (Co: Asst. Prof. Dr. Mehdi Torkmahalleh) Graduated September 2018
- Determination of Optimal Off-Design Conditions by Pareto-Front Optimization Method for Solar-Driven Organic Rankine Cycles Çağlan Sevinç · Supervisor (transferred from Dr. Eray Uzgören) Graduated January 2018
- Effects of Short and Long Term Storage Systems on Size Determination of Renewable Energy Systems in Micro-Grids Loiy Al-Ghussain · Principal Supervisor (Co: Prof. Dr. Derek K. Baker) Graduated June 2017
- Wind Resource Characterization and Utilization via Wind Turbines at METU NCC Fahad Haneef · Supervisor Graduated June 2017
- Modeling and Design of a Non-Thermal Plasma Reactor for CO₂ Dissociation Humayun Ahmed · Supervisor Graduated January 2017
- Assessment of Renewable Energy Based Micro-Grids for Small Communities S. M. Sajed Sadati · Supervisor Graduated July 2016
- Thermodynamic Analysis of Plasma-Assisted Reforming of Methane Kemal Masera · Supervisor Graduated June 2016
- A Two-Stage Feasibility Approach for Solar Chimney Power Plant Design Okoye Chiemeka Onyeka · Supervisor Graduated January 2016
Onur Taylan 