Solar Millennium Subsidiary Flagsol Receives Contract for Egypt's First Parabolic Trough Power Plant
Erlangen, Germany / Cairo, Egypt, November 13, 2007. Flagsol GmbH, a technological subsidiary of Solar Millennium AG (ISIN DE0007218406), has received the contract for the design and supply of the solar field for a hybrid power plant in Egypt. The solar field will be completed in cooperation with Orascom Construction Industries, a large Egyptian general contractor in Cairo, for NREA, the Egyptian authority responsible for renewable energy.
Flagsol will design the solar field and provide the controls for it. Furthermore, the internationally-active technology company is also responsible for the supply of various key components, for example the parabolic mirrors and the absorber pipes. The total cost of the hybrid power plant, which was tendered internationally, is over 250 million Euros, of which approximately 30 % apply to the solar field. Due to the rolemodel nature of the project, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) is providing a subsidy of 50 million US dollars. According to plans, construction will take 30 months. Following this, Flagsol and Orascom Construction Industries will operate the plant for two years, before the power plant is finally handed over to the end owner.
The hybrid power plant uses both natural gas and solar power to produce a total output of 150 MW. The solar field consists of parabolic troughs with a total mirror surface area of approximately 130,000 square meters. The construction of the power plant in Kuraymat, approximately 95 kilometers south of Cairo and on the eastern bank of the Nile, will begin shortly. The location receives over 2,400 kilowatt hours of direct solar radiation per square meter every year, and as such is ideal for the construction of a solar thermal power plant. Furthermore, the hybrid power plant can operate 24 hours a day.
"The contract for the hybrid power plant represents the first project for Solar Millennium in North Africa. The potential for solar thermal power plants in this region is so large, that even a very small fraction of the desert surface would be enough to cover not only the growing electricity requirements of North-African countries, but also to supply cheap solar electricity to Europe in the future" said Christian Beltle, Chairman of the Board of Solar Millennium.
Dr. Thomas Thaufelder, managing director of Flagsol added: "The contract is an important success for Flagsol, because we have won an internationally-tendered project, but also because our role in the value-added chain is now significantly larger than in our first projects". The technological subsidiary of Solar Millennium has already designed the solar fields for Andasol 1 and Andasol 2 in southern Spain, the first parabolic trough power plants in Europe.
About Solar Millennium AG:
Solar Millennium AG, Erlangen, is a globally active company in the renewable energy sector, with its main focus on solar thermal power plants. Together with its subsidiaries, Solar Millennium specializes in parabolic trough power plants - a reliable, proven technology in which the company is a worldwide leader. The company covers all important business sectors of the value-added chain for solar thermal power plants, from project development to technology and the turn-key construction of power plants, to the operation and ownership of power plants. In Spain, Solar Millennium developed Europe's first ever parabolic trough power plants, two of which are already under construction. Further projects are planned with a capacity of several hundred Megawatts are located worldwide, with the focus upon Spain, the USA, China and North Africa. The company is also developing solar chimney power plants, with the aim of making this technology ready for the market.
About Orascom Construction Industries:
Orascom Construction Industries, based in Cairo, is one of the largest general contractors and cement manufacturers in Egypt. The listed company employs more than 40,000 people in over 20 countries. More information under www.orascomci.com
About the technology:
Solar thermal power plants generate electricity using heat energy captured from solar radiation. In a parabolic trough power plant, trough-shaped mirrors concentrate the sun rays onto a pipe in the focal line of the collector. Their absorption causes a heat transfer fluid to be heated in the pipe, generating steam in the power block by way of heat exchange. As with conventional power stations, the steam is utilized in a turbine to generate power; by integration of thermal storage, this power can then be supplied on demand. Thus, solar power plants can also generate electricity after sunset.
