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 Concentrated solar power (CSP, also known as concentrating solar power, concentrated solar thermal) systems generate solar power by using mirrors or lenses to concentrate a large area of sunlight into a receiver. Electricity is generated whe ...

station and Europe's first commercial plant to use

parabolic trough A parabolic trough collector (PTC) is a type of solar thermal collector that is straight in one dimension and curved as a parabola in the other two, lined with a polished metal mirror. The sunlight which enters the mirror parallel to its plane of ...

s. 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 Thermal energy storage (TES) is the storage of thermal energy for later reuse. Employing widely different technologies, it allows surplus thermal energy to be stored for hours, days, or months. Scale both of storage and use vary from small t ...

to continue generating electricity, irrespective of whether the sun is shining or not.

Description

Andasol consists of three projects: Andasol-1(

NREL The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in the US specializes in the research and development of renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy systems integration, and sustainable transportation. NREL is a federally funded research and ...

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 Solar irradiance is the power per unit area ( surface power density) received from the Sun in the form of electromagnetic radiation in the wavelength range of the measuring instrument. Solar irradiance is measured in watts per square metre ...

of 2,200 kWh/m² per year. Andasol has a

thermal storage Thermal energy storage (TES) is the storage of thermal energy for later reuse. Employing widely different technologies, it allows surplus thermal energy to be stored for hours, days, or months. Scale both of storage and use vary from small t ...

system which absorbs part of the heat produced in the solar field during the day. This heat is then stored in a

molten salt Molten salt is salt which is solid at standard temperature and pressure but liquified due to elevated temperature. A salt that is liquid even at standard temperature and pressure is usually called a room-temperature ionic liquid, and molten salts ...

mixture of 60%

sodium nitrate Sodium nitrate is the chemical compound with the chemical formula, formula . This alkali metal nitrate salt (chemistry), salt is also known as Chile saltpeter (large deposits of which were historically mined in Chile) to distinguish it from ordi ...

and 40%

potassium nitrate Potassium nitrate is a chemical compound with a sharp, salty, bitter taste and the chemical formula . It is a potassium salt of nitric acid. This salt consists of potassium cations and nitrate anions , and is therefore an alkali metal nit ...

. 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 The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in the US specializes in the research and development of renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy systems integration, and sustainable transportation. NREL is a federally funded research and ...

(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 A feed-in tariff (FIT, FiT, standard offer contract,Couture, T., Cory, K., Kreycik, C., Williams, E., (2010)Policymaker's Guide to Feed-in Tariff Policy Design National Renewable Energy Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy advanced renewable 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 For fluid power, a working fluid is a gas or liquid that primarily transfers force, motion, or mechanical energy. In hydraulics, water or hydraulic fluid transfers force between hydraulic components such as hydraulic pumps, hydraulic cylinders, a ...

. 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 Solar Millennium was a German company globally active in the renewable energy sector founded in 1998 in Erlangen, Germany, which is specialized in the designing and implementation of solar thermal power plants. The main activities are site selectio ...

(25%) and

ACS Cobra ACS or Acs may refer to: Aviation * ACS-3, the military version of Raybird-3, a Ukrainian UAV * Aerial Common Sensor, a Lockheed Martin reconnaissance aircraft airframe for the US Army and Navy * Air Cess, a cargo airline based in Sharjah, Uni ...

(75%). After planning, engineering and construction Solar Millennium sold their shares to ACS Group. In 2017, the two international funds,

Antin Infrastructure Partners Antin Infrastructure Partners is a private equity firm with offices in Paris, London, New York, Luxembourg and Singapore. It has EUR 30.6 billion in assets under management as of December 2022. Antin invests in the energy & environment, digital te ...

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 Innogy SE was an energy company based in Essen, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its si ...

& 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