World's Largest Solar Power Plant will be in Andalusia

Foundation Stone Ceremony for the First Parabolic Trough Power Plant in Europe

Leap in Scale in Renewable Power Generation

Today the foundation stone will be laid for the solar-thermal power plant Andasol 1 in Andalusia in the south of Spain. Europe's first parabolic trough power plant is a successful project carried out by Solar Millennium AG based in Erlangen, Germany. Andalusian Secretary of Commerce Francisco Vallejo Serrano and German Undersecretary Matthias Machnig are visiting the site to witness the European premiere of a technology that is able to substitute fossil and nuclear power plants. Its collector area of over 510,000 square meters makes Andasol 1 the world's largest solar power plant. Boasting 50 MW of electrical capacity and thermal storage systems, it will generate approx. 179 gigawatt hours per year to supply some 200,000 people with environmentally-friendly solar electricity after a construction time of barely two years. Unlike photovoltaics, which produce electrical power directly from the sunlight, solar-thermal power plants generate electricity using the heat captured from solar radiation.

Erlangen/Aldeire, July 20, 2006. "Today's foundation stone ceremony for Andasol 1 is a major signal to the world market of solar-thermal power generation. Solar Millennium is planning numerous other large-scale solar power plants in Spain and other countries worldwide. A total of three solar power plants will be built at the same location in Andalusia", says Christian Beltle, Chairman of the Board of Solar Millennium AG. The Erlangen-based company started the Andasol 1 project development in the late 1990s. Solar Millennium concluded a partnership with the ACS/Cobra group, Spain's largest construction and plant engineering company, which in December 2004 entered into the 300 million Euro project by purchasing shares of the company Andasol 1 S.A. and which holds 75 percent of the shares today. The remaining 25 percent is owned by a German group of investors represented by Solar Millennium. Using the experience of Solar Millennium, the ACS/Cobra group is responsible for constructing the power plant; Flagsol GmbH, the technology subsidiary of Solar Millennium AG, provides the engineering for the solar field, i.e. planning, design and construction monitoring, as well as control.

The German Ministry of the Environment has subsidized the further development of parabolic trough technology in the past few years. German Undersecretary of the Environment Matthias Machnig believes: "The construction of the parabolic trough power plant is the result of dedicated and continuous technological development. This project will lead the way in the worldwide distribution of cost-efficient power generation using renewable energies". "Andasol 1 marks the beginning of a new era in solar power generation", comments Hans-Josef Fell, spokesman for energy and technology of the Green party in the German Parliament, on the significance of the foundation stone ceremony today. In his opinion, this would entail numerous benefits: "Power plants like Andasol 1 will play a significant role for the energy supply in the future. They support climate protection, help guarantee energy supply and could help prevent illegal nuclear weapon campaigns like those in Iran."

High security of supply through solar-thermal power
Solar-thermal power plants generate electricity using the heat captured from solar radiation. In a parabolic trough power plant, trough-shaped mirrors focus the incident solar radiation onto a pipe in the focal line of the collector. A heat transfer medium in the pipe is heated, and this generates steam in the power block section using heat exchangers. The steam is then used to operate a turbine which generates electricity in the same way as in conventional power plants. This allows the solar energy to be utilized in an efficient and economical manner. Parabolic trough power plants are a recognized and reliable technology and have been in commercial use in California for approximately 20 years.

It is possible to make electricity available when it is required using liquid salt tanks for thermal storage. Therefore, the solar power plants can also generate electricity after sunset. The solar-thermal power plant Andasol 1 helps to meet peaks in demand in the Spanish power grid during the summer that are mainly caused by the high energy consumption of air conditioning units.

Positive market outlook for solar-thermal power generation
Today the political framework in Spain allows power plant projects to be put into practice, with energy supply payments for solar-thermal electricity of about 21 Euro cents per kilowatt hour, which is guaranteed by law for 25 years. However, with its large potential for cost reduction, solar-thermal power generation technology will, according to the world market initiative for solar-thermal electricity, probably be able to compete with peak and normal load electricity from fossil energy sources even within ten years. Greenpeace thinks a total installed output of 36,850 MW can be achieved worldwide by 2025, creating 54,000 jobs. By 2040, solar-thermal power plants could provide a total output of 600,000 MW. This would cover five percent of the world's electricity demand, more than the amount currently provided by water or nuclear power.

The German Aerospace Center, DLR, assumes that by 2050 renewable energies will largely have superseded fossil energies in Mediterranean countries and that solar-thermal power plants will be able to deliver twice as much electricity as wind, photovoltaic, biomass and geothermal power plants together. The German Physical Society, DPG, and the Club of Rome recommend importing solar-thermal electricity from the Mediterranean to Germany.

Solar Millennium AG
Solar Millennium AG is an innovative project development and technology company in the renewable energy sector which is active around the world. Together with subsidiaries and partners, Solar Millennium plans and constructs solar-thermal power plants, and has specialized in two technologies in this field. Firstly, they are a technology provider for parabolic trough power plants, a proven and reliable technology in which Solar Millennium is regarded a world leader. Further, the company develops solar chimney power plants with the objective to make this technology marketable. The main focus of current projects is Spain, the USA and China.