Torresol Energy is a company dedicated to developing renewable energy and

alternative energies Energy system, Energy is sustainability, sustainable if it "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". Most definitions of sustainable energy include considerations of enviro ...

, focusing on concentrated solar energy. It is based in the city of

Getxo Getxo () is a town located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country, in Spain. It is part of Greater Bilbao, and has 77,946 inhabitants (2019). Getxo is mostly an affluent residential area, as well as being the ...

in Biscay Province (''Vizcaya''), in the

Basque Country Basque Country may refer to: * Basque Country (autonomous community), as used in Spain ( es, País Vasco, link=no), also called , an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain (shown in pink on the map) * French Basque Country o ...

of northern

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

. The company's goal is the technological development, construction, operation and maintenance of concentrated solar power plants.

History

Torresol Energy began to take shape in 2007, when ''SENER Grupo de Ingeniería'' decided to promote its own thermosolar plants. To do this, it joined forces with Masdar, the renewable energy company of the Government of Abu Dhabi. In 2008 Torresol Energy was founded, controlled by ''SENER Grupo de Ingeniería'' (60%) and Masdar (40%). The company focuses its efforts on southern Europe, northern Africa, the Mideast, the southwestern United States and South America. In 2011 it launched the

Gemasolar Gemasolar is a concentrated solar power plant with a molten salt heat storage system. It is located within the city limits of Fuentes de Andalucía in the province of Seville, Spain. Design and specifications The plant is of the solar power towe ...

plant into commercial operation in Fuentes de Andalucía, Seville - the first solar power plant with central tower receiver technology and a molten salt storage system; and in 2012 it commissioned two more thermosolar plants with parabolic trough technology (CCP): Valle 1 and Valle 2 in San José del Valle, Cádiz.

The plants

is the first commercial solar plant in the world with a central tower receiver and molten salt heat storage technology. It has a 19.9 MW power generating capacity, which translates into an expected net production of 110 GWh/year and a 15-hour storage capacity in the absence of solar radiation. The plant consists of a 185 ha solar field with a 140 m high tower receiver, a power island and 2650

heliostats A heliostat (from '' helios'', the Greek word for ''sun'', and ''stat'', as in stationary) is a device that includes a mirror, usually a plane mirror, which turns so as to keep reflecting sunlight toward a predetermined target, compensating ...

, each 120 m² and distributed in

concentric In geometry, two or more objects are said to be concentric, coaxal, or coaxial when they share the same center or axis. Circles, regular polygons and regular polyhedra, and spheres may be concentric to one another (sharing the same center ...

rings around the tower. The facility is located in Fuentes de Andalucía in

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsul ...

. The inclusion of the molten salt heat storage system allows the plant to produce electricity even when there is no solar radiation. The heat collected by the salts (which can reach temperatures over 500 °C), acts to generate steam which in turn is used to produce electric power. The excess heat accumulated during sunlight hours is stored in the molten salt tank, endowing the plant with the ability to produce electric power 24 hours a day in some months.Spain's round-the-clock solar power plant
/ref> In January 2012, Valle 1 and Valle 2 were launched in

San José del Valle San José del Valle is a municipality located in the province of Cádiz Cádiz is a Provinces of Spain, province of southern Spain, in the southwestern part of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. It is the sout ...

(province of

Cádiz Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia. Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...

): two adjacent plants that generate power using parabolic trough technology. Each of these plants has a 50 MW generation capacity, with an expected net power production of 160 GWh/year. The plants are located on a 510,000 m² solar field equipped with SENERtrough® parabolic troughs. Each has a heat storage system with 7.5 hours of capacity. SENERtrough® parabolic troughs concentrate solar radiation into a central collector tube with thermal oil circulating in it, and they have high precision optical sensors which track the sun from east to west. The hot oil is used to heat water, which through expansion in a steam turbine, propels a power generator which sends power to the electrical grid.

References

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External links

Official Torresol Energy website
Renewable energy companies of Spain Solar energy companies Solar energy in the European Union Electric power companies of Spain Basque companies Getxo Energy companies established in 2008 Renewable resource companies established in 2008 Spanish companies established in 2008 Spanish brands

History

The plants

See also

References

External links