Acciona Energy To Build Solar Thermal Plant Of $ 800 Million

Acciona Energy, an alternative energy company based outside of Spain, can boast of having built a reputation for clean technologies, and many of them. They are world leaders in wind energy, totaling 5.300 MW in 192 separate wind parks, and built the first concentrating solar plant in USA, The Nevada Solar One (shown in picture), and the third largest in the world, and continues to expand. Today announced that they plan to build 2 solar plants in Cordova, Spain, each with a capacity of 50MW, which would be operational by 2010 and will cost about 500 million Euros (about $ 850 million). The two solar thermal plants produce an impressive amount of 224 million kWh per year, equivalent to 75,000 households.

The plants cover an area of about 260 hectares, or 365 football fields, consisting of 1520 solar collectors and a stunning 364,800 mirrors that focus the sun’s rays into the collectors. This is the complement of 2,000 MW thermal power under development in the U.S., mostly located in the Mojave Desert. While other thermal towers use liquid sodium as a means of heat exchange, the design of action is based on a fuel system, which works like this:

“A liquid (fuel) flows through these pipes and has a very high temperature (400 º). This fluid is sent from the field to the solar energy unit in which heat is transferred to the heat exchanger, through which water flows and becomes steam. The steam turbine is connected to a generator that produces electricity. Following its transformation to high voltage it will be evacuated in a grid through a substation at Villanueva Del Rey (in the municipality of Écija). “

Solar thermal plants have the advantage of producing their peak power during the hottest part of the day when power demand is generally higher. However, the disadvantage is that it cannot actively generate energy at night and must rely on passive heat remaining in the system, or stored energy which can be released (underground storage of compressed air, flywheels energy storage, etc.).

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