24/7 Concentrated Solar Energy

Gemasolar, near Seville, Spain – the first Concentrated Solar Thermal Power plus molten salt storage (CSP+) plant to produce energy 24 hours per day.

This power tower plant produces 20MW, enough to power 25,000 homes but much bigger CSP+ plants are now being in the Middle East and the US that will produce 100MW and 150MW. Even larger CSP+ plants are possible.

http://www.torresolenergy.com/TORRESOL/gemasolar-plant/en

It is the station’s capacity to store energy that makes Gemasolar so different because it allows the plant to transmit power during the night, relying on energy it has accumulated during the day.

The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi (left) with Spain’s King Juan Carlos at last year’s opening of the solar power plant. Torresol Energy is a joint venture between the Spanish engineering group Sener, which holds 60 percent, and Abu Dhabi-financed renewable energy firm Masdar. “I use that energy as I see fit, and not as the sun dictates,” Arias explained. As a result, the plant produces 60 percent more energy than a station without storage capacity because it can work 6,400 hours a year compared to 1,200-2,000 hours for other solar power stations, he said. “The amount of energy we produce a year is equal to the consumption of 30,000 Spanish households,” Arias said, an annual saving of 30,000 tonnes of CO2. Helped by generous state aid, renewable energies have enjoyed a boom in Spain, the world number two in solar energy and the biggest wind power producer in Europe, ahead of Germany.

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Abengoa will have the Support of Banco Santander in Developing the World’s Largest Concentrating Solar Power Plant
Solana, which is being built in Arizona, will be the first solar plant in the United States with the ability to store energy.

April 20, 2012
Seville, April 20, 2012.- Abengoa (MCE: ABG), the international company that applies innovative technology solutions for sustainable development in the energy and environment sectors, has announced that it will collaborate with Capital Riesgo Global, a subsidiary of Banco Santander, which will become a financial partner in the development of Solana, the largest concentrating solar power plant in the world. The plant, which is currently being built by Abengoa in Arizona, will have a production capacity of 280 MW gross and will be the first solar plant in the United States with the ability to store energy.
Capital Riesgo Global will invest $125 million in exchange for an equity stake in the project. The total investment for Solana is around $2,000 million. Abengoa obtained a federal loan guarantee for approximately $1.45 billion in December 2010 from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Loan Programs Office to finance this project. This investment, which has been approved by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), will reduce Abengoa’s own capital requirement contribution and is fully compatible with the potential entry of a tax equity investor in the project.
Solana is the first large-scale plant to be developed by Abengoa in Arizona. With a capacity of 280 MW gross, it will be the largest concentrating solar power plant in the world. Concentrating solar power is a mature technology that, due to thermal inertia and storage, allows the plant to produce dispatchable electricity throughout the day, averting intermittency that other renewables experience, such as wind and photovoltaics. The plant was recently visited by the United States Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar. Construction work is on track to begin producing energy by summer 2013, having achieved almost 50 percent of progress in construction so far. The project has already created more than 1,300 direct jobs and will soon reach 1,600. Solana will generate enough energy to supply 70,000 households and will prevent the emission of 475,000 tons of CO2 per annum.
Abengoa currently has more than 1 GW of solar capacity under construction around the world. It also has a total of 543 MW in operation and is the only company in the world to construct and operate concentrating solar power plants using both tower and parabolic trough technologies.

http://www.abengoasolar.com/corp/web/en/acerca_de_nosotros/sala_de_prensa/noticias/2012/solar_20120419.html

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NREL Report: Thermal Storage Gets More Solar on the Grid
February 14, 2012

http://www.nrel.gov/news/features/feature_detail.cfm/feature_id=1788
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Abengoa’s first plant at the Castilla-La Mancha Solar Complex goes into operation
Abengoa reaches 593 MW installed capacity with the latest plant going into operation.

June 27, 2012
Seville, June 27, 2012 – Abengoa (MCE: ABG), the international company that applies innovative technology solutions for sustainable development in the energy and environment sectors, has begun operation of Helios 1, the first of the two parabolic trough plants in the Castilla-La Mancha Solar Complex. The complex, located in the municipalities of Arenas de San Juan, Villarta de San Juan, and Puerto Lápice, province of Ciudad Real (Castilla-La Mancha), is made up of two identical 50 MW plants.
Helios 1 has a total of 360 collectors covering approximately 110 hectares (280 acres), which is the equivalent of more than 150 soccer fields. The plant will produce enough energy to serve 26,000 Spanish households.

In line with the Abengoa’s commitment regarding the environment and sustainability, the power station will result in a significant reduction in energy and fuel use. Furthermore, the facility will abate the emission of 31,400 tons of CO2 per year.
Abengoa has become the world leader in installed solar capacity with a total of 593 MW in commercial operation and 1,060 MW under construction throughout Europe, America and Africa.

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Puerto Errado 2 Thermosolar Power Plant (PE2) | Case Study
Linear Fresnel Concentrating Solar Power (LFR CSP): 30 MW

Commissioned in early 2012, Novatec Solar Espana’s 30 MW Puerto Errado 2 Thermosolar Power Plant is the world’s first and largest utility-scale, grid-connected linear fresnel reflector solar CSP power plant.

Novatec Solar Espana’s 30 MW Puerto Errado 2 Thermosolar Power Plant is similar in design (and built at the same site) as their 1.4 MW Puerto Errado 1 plant. Puerto Errado 1 was completed in 2009 and was the first linear fresnel reflector concentrating solar power (LFR CSP) plant to be connected to the public transmission grid.

Technology

The plant employs a dry-cooled Thermodyne SAS steam turbine for reduced water usage and incorporates a Ruth single-tank thermocline thermal storage system, utilizing hot water and saturated steam, for efficient steam buffering. The project is built on a 170 acre site and has (28) rows of LFR mirrors.

Linear fresnel reflector technology (LFR) has concentrating solar power’s best land-to-electricity ratio due to a compact design and the potential use of space below the support structures. LFR technology uses flat or slightly curved mirrors to focus sunlight on to a linear receiver to boil water, generating 270 C to 500 C high-pressure direct steam to power the steam turbine genset. The direct steam technology eliminates the need for costly heat transfer fluids and heat exchangers. With simplified plant design, lower capital investment, and lower operational costs, LFR systems are among the most economical solar SCP technologies.

Project Development

Headquartered in Germany, project developer and operator Novatec Solar was founded in 2006 and operates on a global scale. Novatec has developed a patented design for solar fields using unique linear Fresnel collector technology. Novatec Solar’s expertise is in the manufacture, supply and turnkey delivery of direct solar steam generators for a range of applications including power stations, desalination plants and industrial processes. To date, Novatec LFR CSP completed projects are limited to the two (2) Puerto Errado plants and the (under construction) Liddell Solar Thermal Station in Australia.

Levelized Cost of Energy

In 2011, the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Annual Energy Outlook (AEO2011) estimated that the best case scenario levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for a generic new commercial-scale thermosolar power plant would be $0.1917/kWh. In a 2011 report from greentechmedia, “Concentrating Solar: Ready for Take Off or Stalled on the Launchpad?”, which looked at solar CSP in more detail, AREVA’s compact linear fresnel reflector CSP (dry cooling, no storage, similar to Novatec Solar Espana’s technology) was estimated to have a LCOE of $0.137/kWh, the lowest LCOE for any solar CSP technology without thermal storage.

Location:

•Calasparra, Spain

Project Status:

•Construction start: 2010

•Commissioning: March 2012

Rated Capacity:

•30 MW

Annual Production:

•49.0 GWh per year (expected)

Capacity Factor:

•18.6%

Carbon Offset:

•16,000 tons per year

Owner:

•Tubo Sol PE 2 S.L. (developer/ operator: Novatec Solar Espana)

Construction:

•Novatec GmbH & Company KG

Generation Offtaker:

•Iberdrola SAU. 25-year PPA at $0.36876/kWh ($0.29572 after 25-years)

Generation Technology:

•Novatec Solar modular linear fresnel reflector CSP collectors.

•Direct steam generation, with dry-cooled Thermodyne SAS steam turbine

Cost:

•Unknown

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