Spain Commercial Concentrating Solar Power Tower

Spain Commercial Concentrating Solar Power Tower



March 2007 - Europe's first 
commercial concentrating solar power plant was inaugurated 
today near the sunny southern Spanish city of Seville. 
The 11 megawatt, MW, plant was inaugurated in the presence of 
the heads of the regional government of Andalusia and 
executives of the solar company Abengoa, whose parent company, 
Solucar, built the power plant. 
The power plant in the municipality of Sanlucar la Mayor, 25 
kilometers (15 miles) west of Seville, took more than four 
years to build, from July 1, 2001 to December 31, 2005. 
Known as PS10, the project produces electricity with 624 large 
movable mirrors called heliostats. 
Each of the mirrors has a surface measuring 120 square meters 
(1,290 square feet) that concentrates the Sun's rays to the 
top of a 115 meter (377 foot) high tower where a solar 
receiver and a steam turbine are located. The turbine drives a 
generator, producing electricity. 
PS10 is the first of a set of solar electric power generation 
plants to be constructed in the same area that will total more 
than 300 MW by 2013. Power generation will be accomplished 
using a variety of technologies. 
The first two power plants to be brought into operation at 
Sanlucar la Mayor are the PS10, the world's first tower 
technology solar thermoelectric power plant constructed for 
commercial operation, and Sevilla PV, the largest low 
concentration system photovoltaic plant in Europe. 

The EU's first commercial concentrating solar power tower near 
Seville, Spain 
When completed in the year 2013, the Sanlucar la Mayor Solar 
Platform will produce enough energy to cover the consumption 
of some 180,000 homes, equivalent to the needs of the city of 
Seville, using the concentrating solar power plant and other 
technologies. 
Partly financed with European Union funds, the entire project 
requires an investment of 1.2 billion euro. The investment 
required to build the concentrating solar power plant amounted 
to €35 million, with a contribution of €5 million from the 
EU's Fifth Framework Programme for research, awarded for the 
project's innovative approach. 
"These new technologies give Europe a new option to combat 
climate change and increase energy security while 
strengthening the competitiveness of the European industrial 
sector and creating jobs and growth," said Energy Commissioner 
Andris Piebalgs. 
Concentrating solar power plants have few environmental 
impacts other than land use. They produce no environmental 
contaminants or greenhouse gases. 
When complete, the Sanlucar la Mayor Solar Platform will 
prevent the emission of more than 600,000 metric tons of the 
greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year. 
These emissions would have resulted from burning fossil fuels 
to supply electricity to the 180,000 homes that will be served 
by the Solar Platform. 
The need for concentrating solar power technology like PS10 
arises because solar radiation reaches the Earth’s surface 
with a density that is adequate for heating systems but not 
for an efficient thermodynamic cycle for electricity 
production, Piebalgs explains. 
The potential contribution of concentrating solar power plants 
to a more sustainable energy system has still to be fully 
exploited. 
The EU has been supporting the concentrating solar power 
sector for more than 10 years, spending some €25 million to 
research projects working to develop this technology. 
Piebalgs says this contribution has had a multiplying effect 
by leveraging a large amount of additional private investment 
worth several hundred million euro, in a ratio of about €10 
for each euro invested by the European Union research program. 

Also today, the European Commission published a map of the 
solar power potential of Europe. The map is produced by the 
Photovoltaic Geographical Information System of the Joint 
Research Centre which also includes an interactive service 
allowing users to calculate the solar power potential of any 
location in Europe. 
The information in the map shows that an identical solar 
system will generate twice as much energy in sunny areas of 
Europe, such as Malta and Southern Spain, than in areas such 
as Scotland or northern Scandinavia. 
The interactive information service map allows very specific 
calculation of the amount of energy that can be generated in 
any given location in Europe and its neighboring regions. This 
calculation is based on knowledge of the Sun's energy, 
geographic distribution, the different terrain across Europe 
and detailed technological analysis of the available 
photovoltaic technologies. 
The map shows that considerable potential exists in Europe for 
greater use of solar energy. The EU is seeking to increase the 
share of renewable energies in its consumption to 20 percent 
in 2020. 
Abengoa now is open for business in the United States. The $3 
billion diversified energy company responsible for the 
Sanlucar la Mayor solar platform has created Solucar Power, 
Inc., a new U.S. subsidiary that will handle market 
development in solar energy. 
Solucar Power Inc. will respond to utility requests for 
electricity using concentrating solar power technologies. 





 

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