Gemasolar is a

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 ...

plant with a molten salt heat storage system. It is located within the city limits of

Fuentes de Andalucía Fuentes de Andalucía is a village located in the province of Seville, Spain. According to the 2012 census ( INE), the village has a population of 7,315 inhabitants. In 2022, the village temporarily changed its name to ''Ucrania'' (Ukraine) in res ...

in the province of

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

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 ...

Design and specifications

The plant is of the

solar power tower A solar power tower, also known as 'central tower' power plant or 'heliostat' power plant, is a type of solar furnace using a tower to receive focused sunlight. It uses an array of flat, movable mirrors (called heliostats) to focus the sun's ra ...

type CSP and uses concepts pioneered in the Solar One and

Solar Two The SOLAR Project consists of the Solar One, Solar Two and Solar Tres solar thermal power plants based in the Mojave Desert, United States and Andalucía, Spain. The US Department of Energy (DOE) and a consortium of US utilities built the coun ...

demonstration projects, using

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 ...

as its heat transfer fluid and energy storage medium. Originally called Solar Tres, it was renamed Gemasolar. The project, which has received a subsidy of five million euros from the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

and a loan of 80 million euros from the

European Investment Bank The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union's investment bank and is owned by the 27 member states. It is the largest multilateral financial institution in the world. The EIB finances and invests both through equity and debt sol ...

, makes use of the Solar Two technology tested in

Barstow, California Barstow is a city in San Bernardino County, California, in the Mojave Desert of Southern California. Located in the Inland Empire region of California, the population was 25,415 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Barstow is an impor ...

, but is approximately three times the size. It makes use of several advances in technology after Solar Two was designed and built. Gemasolar is the first commercial solar plant with central tower receiver and molten salt heat storage technology. It consists of a solar heliostat aperture area with a power island and 2,650 heliostats, each with a aperture area and distributed in concentric rings around the tower receiver. The total land use of the Heliostats is . The most innovative aspects of the plant, which belongs to the company

Torresol Energy Torresol Energy is a company dedicated to developing renewable energy and alternative energy, alternative energies, focusing on concentrated solar energy. It is based in the city of Getxo in Biscay, Biscay Province (''Vizcaya''), in the Basque C ...

, are its molten salt receiver, its heliostats aiming system and its control system. In addition, its storage system allows it to produce electricity for 15 hours without sunlight (at night or on cloudy days). This storage capacity makes its

solar power Solar power, also known as solar electricity, is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Solar panels use the photovoltaic effect to c ...

manageable so that it can be supplied based on demand. The plant has already been able to supply a full day of uninterrupted power supply to the grid, using thermal transfer technology developed by SENER. Gemasolar, with its of power, can supply per year — enough to supply power to 27,500 homes. The plant has been operational since May 2011. Its official launch was held in October 2011.

Performance

After the second year of operation the plant has exceeded projected expectations. In 2013, the plant achieved continuous production, operating 24 hours per day for 36 consecutive days, a result which no other solar plant has attained so far. Total operation is 6,450 hours at full capacity per year, preventing about 30,000 tons of emissions per year.

References

External links

CIEMAT

Torresol Energy

Gemasolar Plant Construction Video at Youtube
{{Energy in Spain Solar power stations in Spain Energy in Andalusia Buildings and structures in the Province of Seville

Design and specifications

Performance

See also

References

External links