What's Holding Back Concentrating Solar Power Projects In The U.S.?

Image: An artist's rendering of BrightSource Energy's 392 MW Ivanpah solar project under construction in California. In January, Western Watersheds Project sued to stop the project's construction. Image credit: BrightSource Energy.

The concentrating solar power (CSP) industry in North America has experienced setbacks in recent months, including a number of large CSP projects facing lawsuits or being replaced by solar photovoltaic projects.

A new report from IDC Energy Insights, called "Business Strategy: Make-It-or-Break-It Time for Concentrating Solar Power," evaluates the challenges faced by the industry and explains why - according to the company - it is too early to give up on CSP.

Large CSP plants have been facing challenges due to the difficulty of siting them without disturbing environmentally or culturally sensitive lands, and the difficulty of financing projects that incorporate unproven technologies, the report says. At the same time, CSP plants face serious competition from PV, as PV plants continue to drop in price, are relatively quick to permit and build, and investors are comfortable financing them.

According to the report, despite these challenges, CSP technology holds three advantages over PV technology that make it attractive for solar projects: It delivers higher quality power, it experiences fewer intermittency issues (and can go so far as to provide baseload power if storage is incorporated), and it has the potential to use integrated storage to align its output with peak demand periods.

"Over the next few years, it will be critical for the CSP industry to demonstrate technical viability and cost effectiveness, to gain the confidence of investors and expand its foothold in the market," says Jay Holman, research manager for IDC Energy Insights' renewable energy strategies research advisory service.

"This means completing projects that are currently in the pipeline on time and on budget, while pursuing markets where they can extract a premium for the grid-friendly power CSP provides," he says.

Although CSP projects enable high efficiencies and low costs, smaller projects are easier to site, permit and finance. In a separate report, IDC Energy Insights analyzes an innovative micro CSP project that uses technology optimized for projects in the 2 MW to 50 MW range. The approach, which incorporates two hours of thermal energy storage, attempts to bring the benefits of CSP to smaller, more manageable, and more financeable locations.

Source:  IDC Energy Insights

New Bearings Reduce Maintenance Costs for CSP Installations

Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics, a provider of engineered components to international original equipment manufacturers, has launched a maintenance-free bearing for the solar market.

SOLGLIDE bearings are specifically designed for concentrating solar power (CSP) plants and are applied at pivot points at all major tracking systems used in the area of CSP. Proprietary fluoropolymer compounds in SOLGLIDE bearings increases the long-term operational efficiency of solar equipment, reduce energy usage and decrease long-term costs, according to the company.

Because SOLGLIDE bearings offer a thicker layer of fluoropolymer compounds than other products, they provide less friction on a constant level throughout the whole product life, Saint-Gobain adds.

The bearings are designed to last the lifetime of a CSP tower (usually around 25 years) with no maintenance costs. They are available with different backing layers: steel protected with a proprietary corrosion protection system, aluminum or stainless steel backings. Saint-Gobain engineers can also customize various parameters to meet specific applications.

SOURCE: Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics

Alstom Invests $75 Million in BrightSource Energy

Alstom, a company involved in power generation, power transmission and rail infrastructure, has invested $75 million in BrightSource Energy Inc. This new transaction further reinforces Alstom's partnership with BrightSource, following Alstom's $55 million initial investment in the company in May 2010 and the partnership agreement signed in August 2010, to provide fully integrated solar thermal power plants.

This latest investment positions Alstom as BrightSource Energy's second-largest shareholder, the companies note. Alstom and BrightSource are currently partnering in countries, such as in the Mediterranean ring and Africa, where solar conditions best suit BrightSource's tower technology and where Alstom has a proven track record in engineering and construction of power plants.

Alstom's expertise in steam turbine technology - together with its integrated power plant solutions - will complement BrightSource's solar technology to offer highly efficient solar thermal power plants, according to the companies.

SOURCE: Alstom

Concentrating Solar Power Market Expected To Boom This Year

Despite competitive PV prices and lingering environmental and financing concerns, concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies are poised for gigawatt-scale adoption this year, according to a new report from Lux Research.

Additionally, future growth is expected to remain healthy as the generation stack increasingly incorporates CSP plants in excess of 100 MW. However, in order to land their share of this emerging market, utilities and developers alike will need a clear grasp of the economic and performance factors driving adoption of CSP’s four main technology contenders, the company says.

The report compares the economics and performance of three key CSP technologies - parabolic trough, power tower and Stirling thermal systems - as well as CSP's competitor, photovoltaic systems. It examines the application of each technology in a hypothetical 100 MW plant and compares their levelized costs of electricity (LCOE), capital costs and internal rates of return (IRRs), among other factors driving adoption.

"After a few fits and starts, solar thermal projects have begun to make a big impact on the generation mix in both Spain and the Southwest U.S.," says Ted Sullivan, a Lux Research senior analyst and the report's lead author. "Though trough technologies have been dominant to date, we expect power tower solutions to gain increasing prominence. [Their] technology is proven, because their integration with thermal storage technologies smashes through the fundamental constraint that has held solar back to date: intermittency."

Lux Research found that dish Stirling technology offers the lowest capital expenditures. A more modular technology, dish Stirling leads the pack in terms of cost, due to its cheap Stirling engines. Meanwhile, the costly mirror fields of parabolic trough plants make them the priciest of CSP options, while power-tower systems are relatively cost competitive. Driven by high module costs, PV systems fall somewhere in the middle.

Conventional trough and tower CSP technologies lead in performance, the report adds. Parabolic trough plants have the highest peak efficiency, but they come second in yield and capacity factor, while power tower is the top performer on system yield and capacity factor due to a highly efficient turbine cycle and dual-axis tracking. Dish Stirling and PV, in contrast, both underperform, with lower capacity factors and lower energy yield.

Dish Stirling technology also leads in LCOE. LCOE (measured as $/kWh) neatly synthesizes the total operating costs of a power plant, and is key to determining the IRR to the project investor, Lux Reseach says. Here, dish Stirling leads due to its low cost and decent performance, making it a good substitute for PV.

However, power-tower technology is hard on its heels and is expected to remain a viable contender for years to come. Parabolic trough systems, by comparison, have the highest LCOE of any CSP plants due to their expensive capex, and high operation and maintenance costs. PV systems currently trail the pack on LCOE due to relatively high capex and mediocre performance, the report adds.

SOURCE: Lux Research

GE Supplying CSP Steam Turbines for Spanish Plants

GE Oil & Gas says it has used its petrochemical industry steam turbine technology expertise to aid in the commercialization of the first GE 50 MW steam turbines developed for large-scale parabolic-trough concentrating solar power (CSP) applications.

Three GE Oil & Gas 50 MW turbine units will be deployed by Acciona Energy by the end of March for two solar power projects in Spain. One unit will be deployed at the new CSP plant in Majadas, Spain, and two will be deployed at the company's Palma del Rio, Sevilla, facilities.

The projects mark the first time that GE has designed CSP trains with generators located between two steam turbines: a reheat configuration to increase the overall cycle efficiency and systems' capacity, the company says. The technology features a layout configuration that is able to combine  steam turbine optimized efficiency and an overall cycle efficiency above 39%.

SOURCE: GE Oil & Gas

US Dept. of Interior Approves 1 GW Blythe Solar Power Plant in California

US Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar authorized on Monday (Oct 25, 2010) the Record of Decision (ROD) for the Blythe solar power plant site. This was the last approval to be issued and concludes the entire approval process for the world's largest solar power plant facility. A total of four solar-thermal power plants are to be built at the Blythe location in California with an overall capacity of 1,000 MW. 

Based on this decision, the US Bureau of Land Management has granted Solar Millennium LLC, the American project development unit within the Solar Millennium Group, the right of way for public land at the Blythe location. It is the first approval by the US Department of the Interior for a parabolic trough power plant on US public land. 

With a potential power plant capacity of around 1,000 MW, the Blythe plant is entering nuclear power plant dimensions. The four power plants together will produce enough electricity for more than 300,000 American single family homes, thereby saving one million tons of carbon dioxide per year. The power purchase agreements between Solar Millennium LLC and the American utility Southern California Edison (SCE) for the two major 242-MW solar power plants, which are to be realized now, were approved by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) in July. The agreements regulate SCE's purchase of the electricity produced by the power plants. 

Solar Millennium LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Solar Trust of America LLC, the American joint venture between Solar Millennium (70 percent) and Ferrostaal (30 percent). Uwe T. Schmidt, CEO of Solar Trust of America, explains the significance of the solar power plants for the region's environment and economy: "This is an historical day, not only for our Company, but also for California and particularly the Blythe region. In addition to their contribution to meeting California's climate goals, the power plants planned there will also play a very significant role in reviving the local economy." Solar Millennium believes that 1,000 jobs will be created during the construction period of Blythe. When the 1,000 MW facility is fully operational it will create more than 220 permanent jobs.


Source:   CleanEdge

World Bank Mobilizing $5.6 Billion for CSP in North Africa

Morocco gets solar energy backing

The Clean Technology Fund Trust Fund Committee (CTF TFC) has endorsed the Investment Plan for Concentrated Solar Power in the Middle East and North Africa Region, which aims at mobilizing $5.6 billion (including $750 million from the CTF) to accelerate deployment of 1 GW of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) generation capacity, doubling the worldwide CSP installed capacity.

Morocco is the country with the largest proposed capacity in the MENA CSP CTF IP. The first plant to be developed under the CSP scale-up initiative is the 500 MW Ouarzazate plant in Morocco, which is the largest proposed CSP plant in the world.

Source:  Bikywmasr.com

The Sahara Could Provide Europe with Electricity

The Sahara gets twice as much sunshine annually as most of Europe. The European Union wants to get 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources within a decade. So why not build solar power plants across North Africa and ship the electricity north via power lines under the Mediterranean?

Over the past year, more than 30 European companies have joined the Desertec Industrial Initiative, a consortium that seeks a $560 billion investment in North African solar and wind installations over the next 40 years. The group is completing a feasibility study and hopes to be building its first power plant by 2013.

A separate group of companies called Transgreen, formed in July, is working on plans for the thousands of miles of high-voltage lines needed. The challenge is immense: Winning agreement from very different countries on two continents to carry out one of the biggest infrastructure projects in history.

Construction contracts

Many backers are eager for a share of rich construction contracts. They include engineering outfits such as Germany's Siemens and Swiss-Swedish group ABB and solar companies Abengoa Solar of Spain and First Solar of Arizona. Giant Italian utility Enel wants to rely less on Russian gas, and German insurer Munich Re sees the project as a hedge against damage from global warming.

"We are creating a large network of allies with complementary interests," said Desertec boss Paul van Son, a former Dutch utility executive.

There's little doubt that Sahara sun can power Europe. Cables already carry electricity under the Mediterranean - though the power flows from Spain to Morocco. And after years of false starts, scores of large-scale solar power plants are being built or in advanced planning stages, from the American Southwest to the Mideast.

"There is now a good track record," said Bernd Utz, head of Siemens' renewable energy division.

With the technology the consortium plans to use, solar-powered electricity costs at least four times as much per kilowatt-hour as power from coal- and gas-fired plants, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, an analysis group. Governments have used subsidies to support alternate energy companies until their costs are more in line with oil and gas. The United States awarded a $1.45 billion loan guarantee in July to reduce financing costs for the planned Solana power plant in Arizona, at 280 megawatts one of the world's largest.

The Sahara project envisions generating capacity equal to almost 400 Solanas. Where would the financing come from? Desertec and Transgreen member companies so far have put up less than $10 million for feasibility studies. They want Europe's governments to require utilities to pay more for Sahara-generated energy, a preferential arrangement that European countries use to spur solar and wind energy development at home.

Trouble is, Germany and Spain are reducing these rates, which the utilities often pass on to customers. The depth of political support in North Africa is another issue. Morocco, Tunisia, and Egypt back the project. Algeria wants to develop solar plants on its own. Some European critics, meanwhile, see a case of overreach.

"European countries can develop faster and cheaper than Desertec a renewable energy supply from indigenous sources," said Hermann Scheer, a member of the German Bundestag who heads Eurosolar, a solar research and advocacy group in Bonn.

Even Europe's sunniest regions, though, don't get enough sun to generate power as efficiently as in North Africa, says Abengoa Solar Chief Executive Officer Santiago Seage.

Room for mirrors

The Sahara's ample space is crucial because plans call for fields of mirrors, totaling hundreds of square miles, at more than 20 locations. The mirrors would concentrate the sun's rays to create heat and drive turbines - a technology known as concentrating solar power or CSP, that allows heat to be extracted and stored gradually so electricity is generated continuously. Plans also call for solar photovoltaic and wind turbine generators, whose energy costs less to produce than concentrating solar power but yet don't offer storage capacity.

"For utilities, CSP is a much more robust product," Seage said.

As the consortium feels its way forward, some European countries could strike bilateral deals with North African suppliers. Morocco, for example, has announced plans to build solar plants for its own use. Because Morocco's government can't afford the subsidies that would make solar power feasible inside its own borders, it might team up with Spain or France to help with financing in exchange for a share of output, suggests Logan Goldie-Scot, a London analyst with Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

"The (Desertec) project will happen," he said, but "it's likely to be a series of small projects."

Source:  This article appeared on page D - 5 of the San Francisco Chronicle

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California Approves First CSP Plant Since 1990

The full California Energy Commission (CEC) unanimously approved NextEra Energy Resources' 250MW Beacon Solar Energy Project, the first concentrating solar power plant (CSP) to be approved in the state in a generation.

The CEC, which will take final decisions on several other large solar thermal plants in the coming weeks, has been racing to review the projects.

The permitting process has been lengthy - Beacon has been under review since March 2008 - and often contentious, encompassing issues of desert land use, protection of threatened and endangered species, and water use.

"Today’s action begins the journey of increasing clean renewable energy in California,” CEC Chairman Karen Douglas says in a statement.

According to the CEC, it hasn't approved a CSP plant since February 1990, when it gave the go ahead to Luz Solar Electric Generating Systems (SEGS) IX and Luz SEGS X.

A subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources, the project development unit of energy company FPL Group, proposed the large-scale parabolic trough project on fallow agricultural land at the edge of the Mojave Desert in Kern County.

Unlike several other large CSP projects rushing to obtain permits this summer, Beacon would not be built on federal land and therefore does not require a seperate right of way from the Bureau of Land Management.

One major box is yet to be checked by NextEra - a purchaser for the gigawatts of energy Beacon would crank out each year.

Californian utilities are hungry for green energy to fulfill their increasing renewables requirements under state law.

The state is debating whether to elevate its current requirement that utilities get 20% of their electricity from renewable sources by the end of this year, to 33% by 2020.

Source:   ReCharge

It's Possible to Convert Waste CO2 into Diesel Fuel Using Concentrated Solar Energy

Several industry, academic and government organizations have formed an alliance to commercialize technologies that will utilize concentrated solar energy to convert waste CO2 into diesel fuel.

The alliance team members include Sandia National Laboratories, Renewable Energy Institute International, Pacific Renewable Fuels, Pratt Whitney Rocketdyne (a United Technologies Division), Quanta Services, Desert Research Institute and Clean Energy Systems. In addition, commercial partners have signed on to advance work on the first round of commercial plants.

The project team has received a first phase of funding from the National Energy Technology Laboratory to demonstrate these technologies.

A solar reforming technology platform will be colocated next to industrial facilities that have waste CO2 streams such as coal power plants, natural gas processing facilities, ethanol plants, cement production facilities and other stationary sources of CO2, the alliance explains.

A solar reforming system is currently being demonstrated in Sacramento, Calif., and demonstrations will continue both at Sandia's facilities in New Mexico and at a power plant project site in Bakersfield, Calif. Planning for the first round of commercial plants is under way at several locations in the U.S. The project team anticipates that deployment of the first commercial plants can begin in 2013.

SOURCE: Renewable Energy Institute International

Stirling CSP for 1.5 MW Comes on Line

 This is the Maricopa Solar project, a 1.5-megawatt (MW) array of SunCatcher Systems (also known as the Stirling Dish Engine). In January NTR plc, which owns both SES and Tessera Solar, opened the plant after breaking ground just four months earlier.

Maricopa Solar is the first commercial project for the SunCatcher concentrating solar power (CSP) technology, which was designed and manufactured by SES. The SES SunCatcher is a 25-kilowatt solar power system that uses a 38-foot high, mirrored parabolic dish combined with an automatic tracking system to collect and focus the sun’s energy onto a Stirling engine to convert the solar thermal energy into grid quality electricity.

Maricopa Solar is comprised of 60 SunCatcher dishes and will bring energy to Salt River Project (SRP) customers in Greater Phoenix, Arizona. The SunCatchers unveiled at Maricopa Solar were manufactured and assembled in North America, mostly in Michigan by automotive suppliers. Parts for the SunCatcher dishes are also on track to be made by Linamar Corp. in Canada, which has said that it is expanding its local workforce by 1,200 people in large part to manufacture parts for SES.

The project is the result of a long development process for Stirling and Tessera. SES has been working for more than two decades to perfect the SunCatcher’s technology to make it utility-friendly. The company experienced many technical delays along the way, raising a lot of skepticism from people in the industry who feared that the technology was being over hyped.

Invented in 1816 by Robert Stirling, Stirling engines use air, helium or hydrogen, which is sealed inside the engine. The Stirling cycle needs an external heat source, which could be either solar or biomass. The heat moves the gas from a hot side to a cold side, expanding, contracting and pushing pistons. There are no exhaust valves and no combustion takes place inside the engine’s cylinders.

High volume manufacturing of the SunCatcher is expected to begin later this summer and Tessera Solar's vice president of development, Felicia Bellows said that the company expects to break ground on utility-scale projects late this year in California and Texas. She said that despite long backlogs for transmission permitting, especially in California, where a new project could be in the queue for three years before getting permits, Tessera's projects are on track.

“Everything is based on permitting right now, if everything moves as planned, Imperial Valley solar is the project that is most likely to come online first, followed by or even possibly preceded by the Western Ranch facility in Texas,” she said.

SES has been talking about developing large projects for years, with little to show for it. The company said it would have 300 MW developed by this year. It only has 1.5 MW.

But with backing from a larger energy company, SES and Tessera officials are still talking about building large projects. According to the company, the first project in the Imperial Valley will be a whopping 750-MW, with the first 300-MW contracted under a power purchase agreement with San Diego Gas & Electric near El Centro, California. The second, Calico, is an 850-MW project with Southern California Edison near Barstow, California; and Western Ranch is a 27-MW project with CPS Energy in West Texas. Given the company's earlier claims, it remains to be seen whether they can pull it off.




Source:  by Graham Jesmer, Video Producer

Spire Produces World's Most Efficient Large Area Concentrator Solar Cell

BEDFORD, Mass., May 21, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) –Spire Corporation (Nasdaq: SPIR), an American global solar company providing capital equipment and turnkey production lines to manufacture photovoltaic (PV) modules and cells, today announced its wholly owned subsidiary, Spire Semiconductor, LLC, has matched the current efficiency record for a concentrator solar cell. The record efficiency is available on a production ready cell with a photo area of 1.0 cm2.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) measured the efficiency of 41.0% at 500x suns concentrated sunlight. Spire Semiconductor began working with NREL under an 18-month, $3.7 million cost share subcontract in early-2009. The goal is to develop a triple junction, gallium arsenide (GaAs), 42.5% conversion efficient "Triathlon" concentrator cell for concentrator photovoltaic systems.

"This is truly an achievement," said Roger G. Little, Chairman and CEO of Spire Corporation. "We have experienced continuous improvement in our proprietary cell processing design technology throughout the NREL contract. We are excited to have matched the current world record efficiency, and we have nearly four months remaining under the subcontract to surpass this level and achieve the target 42.5% efficiency. A more efficient concentrator solar cell will provide a lower cost and more reliable source of solar generated electricity," concluded Mr. Little.

The Next 40 Years

 Technology Roadmap; Solar photovoltaic energy, from the International Energy Agency (IEA), complements the simultaneously released report on concentrating solar power (CSP) described in THE WAY TO BIG SUN.   

As the IEA sees the future - together, photovoltaic (PV) solar – which uses the sun’s light – and CSP – which uses the sun’s heat – can generate over 22% of the world’s electricity by the middle of this century. PV will provide half of that, generating 11% of world electricity by 2050.

Demonstrating the IEA’s fundamentally conservative bent, the PV and CSP  Roadmaps are part of a thorough scientific, economic and policy assessment of 19 New Energy options in pursuit of identifying the best path to the IEA’s (completely inadequate) goal of a 50% reduction in world CO2 emissions by 2050.

Unlike CSP, which requires a special high-saturation type of sun, PV requires no special Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI) of sunlight. It can be (and has been) put to work almost anywhere there is sunlight. World PV capacity has grown an average of 40% per year in this century and the world’s spending on PV research and development doubled in the 21st century’s first decade, from $250 million in 2000 to $500 million (in 2007). At current rates of growth and technological advancement, the IEA expects PV solar to be price competitive in the most sun-saturated parts of the world by 2020.
 

When solar PV achieves widespread cost competitiveness with other sources of grid supply, the “effective, long-term and balanced” policies that helped build manufacturing capacity and deployment will “evolve” into those that support self-sustaining PV markets. Financial incentives will phase out in favor of those that obtain and maintain grid access and integration, ongoing investment in R&D and international cooperation in building capacity for emerging economies.

Source:   Renewable Energy World    To read the full article click here.

US DOE Releases $62 Million for CSP R&D

Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu late last week announced the selections of projects for investment of up to US $62 million over five years to research, develop, and demonstrate Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) systems capable of providing low-cost electrical power.

The thirteen DOE award selections fall into two areas, CSP system studies and component feasability studies. The award winners, along with their projects and the amount of each award are available by clicking on the link below:

Source Renewable Energy World.    To read full article & list of winners click here.

Solaria Nets US $45 Million in Financing

Solaria Corporation has closed US $45 million in a financing round led by CMEA Capital and DBL Investors. Other participants in the round include current investors Sigma Partners and NGEN Partners and new investors Mitsui Ventures and Savitr Capital.

"After a great deal of testing and field validation, we're now offering the Solaria module to leading customers in North America, Europe, and Asia."

-- Daniel Shugar, CEO, Solaria

Solaria said that it will use the financing to meet increasing global demand for solar modules for large and utility scale projects, the fastest growing PV market segment. Solaria modules are designed specifically for ground-mounted tracking systems and certified to UL1703 and IEC61215 standards.
 
“Utilities, solar integrators, and project developers tell us that they want a cost effective solar module that delivers proven crystalline efficiency and reliability,” said Daniel Shugar, Solaria's CEO. “That is exactly what we’ve spent years developing. After a great deal of testing and field validation, we’re now offering the Solaria module to leading customers in North America, Europe, and Asia. I’m proud to have been present at other milestones in the solar industry, and I believe this will prove to be the most significant yet.”

50 MW CSP Plant in Spain Becomes Operational

Seville, Spain: Abengoa Solar Begins Commercial Operation of Solnova 1

Abengoa Solar has initiated commercial operation of Solnova 1, the new parabolic trough technology plant located at the Solúcar Platform, following the successful completion of the operation and production testing conducted over the course of three days. During this phase plant performance matched theoretical electrical power generation design, thereby validating the tremendous potential of parabolic trough technology.

The Solnova 1 plant incorporates parabolic trough technology developed by Abengoa Solar and has integrated significant design enhancements. Worthy of special mention is the Abengoa Solar-developed ASTRØ parabolic trough collector which ensures far superior precision thanks to its design and exclusive process of construction and alignment.

The accumulative experience gained by Abengoa Solar through its trough pilot plant built in 2007, the use of a motor-driven start-up station, and the expertise of highly specialized technical personnel dedicated to optical alignment, collector manufacturing and process optimisation proved to be key factors in the successful start-up of Solnova 1, a plant built by Abener.

Santiago Seage, CEO of Abengoa Solar, emphasized that reaching theoretical design capacity during production testing constitutes a significant milestone.

"Our technological progress and accumulative expertise have enabled us to reach our goals much sooner than we had anticipated. We will use this experience in the two 280 MW CSP plants planned for the United States in Arizona and California," he added.

With its 50 megawatts of power, the new Solnova 1 solar station will generate enough clean energy to meet the electricity needs of 25,700 homes, while preventing the emission of approximately 31,400 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere each year.

Solnova 1 is made up of around 980,000 square feet (300,000 square meters) of mirrors that cover an area totalling approximately 280 acres (115 hectares). The plant employs technology which concentrates solar radiation onto a heat-absorbing pipe inside of which flows a liquid that reaches high temperatures. This fluid transfers its energy to the water vapor that reaches a turbo-generator, where it expands to produce electricity.


Source:   Solarbuzz    Further details about: Abengoa Solar