The Andasol solar power station is a 150-

megawatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

(MW) concentrated solar power station and Europe's first commercial plant to use parabolic troughs. It is located near

Guadix Guadix (, ) is a city and municipalities of Spain, municipality in southern Spain, in the Granada (province), province of Granada. The city lies at an altitude of 913 metres, in the centre of the Hoya of Guadix, a high plain at the northern footh ...

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, and its name is a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of Andalusia and Sol (Sun in Spanish). The Andasol plant uses tanks of molten salt as thermal energy storage to continue generating electricity, irrespective of whether the sun is shining or not.

Description

Andasol consists of three projects: Andasol-1( NREL
Andasol-1
/ref> (completed 2008), Andasol-2(NREL
Andasol-2
/ref> (completed 2009) and Andasol-3(NREL
Andasol-3
/ref> (completed 2011). Each project generates approximately 165 GW-h each per year (a total of 495 GW-h for all three combined), with a gross electricity output of 50 MW_e and 49.9 MW_e net. This gives the plant a combined power output of 150 MW_e. The collectors installed have a combined surface area of 51

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...

s; it occupies about 200 ha of land. Andasol is the first parabolic trough power plant in Europe. Because of the high altitude (1,100 m) and the semi-arid climate, the site has exceptionally high annual direct insolation of 2,200 kWh/m² per year. Andasol has a thermal storage system which absorbs part of the heat produced in the solar field during the day. This heat is then stored in a molten salt mixture of 60% sodium nitrate and 40% potassium nitrate. This process almost doubles the number of operational hours at the solar thermal power plant per year. Each unit fully loaded storage system holds 1,010 MW·h_t of heat, enough to run the turbine and produce electricity for about 7.5 hours at full-load, in case of overcast skies or after sunset. The heat reservoirs each consist of two tanks measuring 14 m in height and 36 m in diameter and containing molten salt. Andasol 1 is able to supply environmentally friendly solar electricity for up to 200,000 people. The total cost of building the three projects was estimated at €900 million.

Rationale

Andasol 1 cost around €300 million (US$380 million) to build. Thermal energy storage costs roughly US$50 per kWh of capacity (150 lbs of salt per kWh at a storage temperature of 400 °C), according to Greg Glatzmaier of the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), totaling about 13% of Andasol's initial cost. The developers say Andasol's electricity will cost €0.271 per

kilowatt-hour A kilowatt-hour ( unit symbol: kW⋅h or kW h; commonly written as kWh) is a non-SI unit of energy equal to 3.6 megajoules (MJ) in SI units, which is the energy delivered by one kilowatt of power for one hour. Kilowatt-hours are a comm ...

(kW·h) to produce. Under current government policy in Spain, solar-thermal electricity will receive a feed-in tariff of just under €0.27/kW·h for the next 25 years. Like every power plant with a thermal engine, cooling is needed for the working fluid. As Andasol is built in the warm middle of the south of Spain, every Andasol unit vaporizes water per year (according to the developer), or 5 L/kWh (1.3 USgal/kWh). Most power plants vaporize less water (typically less than 2.5 L/kWh), or close to none if they are cooled by river or sea water. Although water supply is generally a problem in Spain, Andasol has ample supply due to its location near the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

mountain range.

Developers

Andasol 1 and 2

The developer of the Andasol 1 and Andasol 2 plants are Solar Millennium (25%) and ACS Cobra (75%). After planning, engineering and construction Solar Millennium sold their shares to ACS Group. In 2017, the two international funds, Antin Infrastructure Partners and Deutsche Asset Management's infrastructure investment business, and the Spanish construction company Cobra Sistemas y Redes, sold full ownership to Cubico Sustainable Investments Limited. In 2018, the ICSID – the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes – issued a ruling that required Spain to pay €112 million to Antin Infrastructure Partners, which had claimed €218 million over the cuts to renewable energies subsidies in 2010. Andasol USGS document

Andasol 3

Andasol 3 is developed by the consortium of Solar Millennium and MAN Ferrostaal. Marquesado Solar SL is the investor consortium which is going to commission and operate Andasol 3. Shareholders of Marquesado Solar SL are: *

Stadtwerke München Stadtwerke München GmbH (Munich City Utilities) or SWM is a German communal company, owned by the city of Munich, which offers public services for the city and the region of Munich. The company supplies electricity for more than 95% of Munich's ...

(48.9%) * MAN Ferrostaal AG (26%) * Innogy & RheinEnergie AG (25.1%)

References

External links

* Includes link to video. * {{Energy in Spain Buildings and structures in the Province of Granada Energy in Andalusia Solar power stations in Spain Solar thermal energy