|
The
Spanish government is committed to achieving the target of 12%
of primary energy from renewable energy by 2010 with an
installed solar generating capacity of 400 megawatts. Spain
is one of the most attractive countries with regard to the
development of solar energy as it has the greatest amount of
sunshine of any country in Europe. Spain is the fourth
largest manufacturer in the world of solar power technology
and exports 80% of this output to Germany. Through a
ministerial ruling in March 2004, the Spanish government
removed economic barriers to grid-connection of renewable
energy. The widely applauded Royal Decree 436/2004 equalises
conditions for large-scale thermal and photovoltaic plants and
guarantees feed-in tariffs.
In March
2007, Europe’s first commercial concentrating solar power
tower plant was opened near the southern Spanish city of
Seville. The 11MW plant, known as the PS10 solar power tower,
produces electricity with 624 large heliostats. Each of these
mirrors has a surface measuring 120m2 that concentrates the
sun’s rays to the top of a 115m 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 300MW
by 2013. This power generation will be accomplished using a
variety of technologies.
Two 50MWe
solar thermal trough power plants, Andasol 1 and Andasol 2,
are being promoted jointly by ACS Cobra and the Solar
Millenium group in the region of Andalucia, each with a
proposed 510, 120m2 solar collector field and six hours’
thermal storage. The Andasol power plants will be the first
of their kind in Europe. Each power plant will be capable of
supplying solar electricity to as many as 200,000 people.
With its collector area of 512,000m2 per plant, it will be the
largest solar power plant in the world. The Andasol 1 project
obtained financial closure in May 2006 and has received a
€5
million grant from the European Commission’s Fifth Framework
Programme, along with financial support from the German
Federal Ministry for Environment. Construction started in
July 2006 and will be completed in 2008.
A 15MWe
solar-only power tower plant, the Solar Tres project, is in
the hands of the Spanish company SENER, employing United
States molten salt technologies for receiver and energy
storage. Its 16-hour molten salt storage system will be able
to deliver power around the clock. The Solar Tres project has
also received a
€5
million grant from the European Commission’s Fifth Framework
Programme. Solar thermal power plants designed for solar-only
generation are ideally matched to summer noon peak loads in
prosperous areas with significant cooling demands, such as
Spain. Using thermal energy storage systems, solar thermal
operating periods can even be extended to meet base-load
needs.
Construction has started on a 20MW solar photovoltaics power
system in Trujillo in Caceres. Costing
€150
million, the new plant will have double the output of the 10MW
Bavaria Solar Park in Germany, the previous largest ever
photovoltaic system. |
