The Extresol 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) commercial
concentrated solar thermal power plant, located in
Torre de Miguel Sesmero in the
province of Badajoz
The province of Badajoz ( ; ) is a province of western Spain located in the autonomous community of Extremadura. It was formed in 1833. It is bordered by the provinces of Cáceres in the north, Toledo, Ciudad Real in the east, Córdoba in ...
,
Extremadura
Extremadura ( ; ; ; ; Fala language, Fala: ''Extremaúra'') is a landlocked autonomous communities in Spain, autonomous community of Spain. Its capital city is Mérida, Spain, Mérida, and its largest city is Badajoz. Located in the central- ...
,
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 ...
.
The power station consists of three different systems, Extresol 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 ...
Extresol-1
/ref> Extresol 2[(NREL]
Extresol-2
/ref> and Extresol 3,[(NREL]
Extresol-3
/ref> of 50 MW each, due to the power limitation of 50 MW per plant established by the Spanish legislation. Extresol uses 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 ...
and has a 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 ...
system, which absorbs part of the heat produced in the solar field during the day and stores it in molten salts.
See also
* List of solar thermal power stations
*List of energy storage projects
This is a list of energy storage power plants worldwide, other than pumped hydro storage. Many individual energy storage plants augment electrical grids by capturing excess electrical energy during periods of low demand and storing it in other ...
*Renewable energy in the European Union
Renewable energy progress in the European Union (EU) is driven by the European Commission's 2023 revision of the Renewable Energy Directive, which raised the EU's binding renewable energy target for 2030 to at least 42.5%, up from the previous t ...
* Sener Aeronáutica
*Solar power in Spain
Spain is one of the first countries to deploy large-scale solar photovoltaics, and is the world leader in concentrated solar power (CSP) production.
Spain is also one of the European countries with the most hours of sunshine.
In 2022, the cu ...
*Solar thermal energy
Solar thermal energy (STE) is a form of energy and a technology for harnessing solar energy to generate thermal energy for use in Industrial sector, industry, and in the residential and commercial sectors. Solar thermal collectors are classified ...
*Wind power in Spain
Spain is one of the countries with the largest wind power capacity installed, with over 27 GW in 2020. In 2013, it had become the first country in the world to have wind power as its main source of energy.
History
Spain was an early leader ...
References
{{Energy in Spain
Solar power stations in Spain
Solar thermal energy
Energy in Extremadura