Europe’s First Commercial Solar Power Tower Built in Spain-


Contrary to belief that America leads the world in green energy projects, the globe’s largest commercial concentrating solar power plant happens to reside in Europe. The 11-megawatt producing solar updraft tower is known as PS10 and uses 624 movable mirrors, each with a surface area of 120 sq. meters. Solar rays are then converged and beamed to the top of a 115-meter tower where water is heated in pipes and the solar thermal energy powers a steam turbine to generate electricity. It is the first in a string of designed solar plants that will work to generate more than 300 MW of power for the region by the year 2013. It is located in the municipality of Sanlúcar la Mayor, Spain, about 25 km west of Seville. Once finished, it is projected that the solar plant will provide enough electricity to power over 180,000 homes in the surrounding areas and will prevent over 600,000 tons of CO2 from being released into the environment annually.

There is also a second generation solar updraft tower being constructed on the site, PS20, and will yield twice the output of the PS10. It will utilize more than 1,000 double-axis sun tracking heliostats driving 120 sq. meter mirrors, which will concentrate solar radiation onto the receiver on top of a 160 meter tower. The second generation machinery will provide significant enhancements for solar thermal output. The pioneering solar tower plant now generates over 20 MW of electricity and is currently powering 10,000 homes with renewable energy. The solar project was brought forth by Spain’s leading energy company, Abengoa, and is being constructed by Solucar. Solucar is the parent company of Abegnoa solar business group and has been involved in solar energy and bioenergy projects. The company has launched a new US firm focused on producing energy using CSP, or concentrating solar power. Abengoa currently has five industry organizations which are concentrating in solar, biomass, information technologies, industrial production, and environmental engineering services.