The Construction of the Andasol Power Plants.
Solar Millennium developed the first parabolic trough power plants in Europe. The Andasol 1 plant in southern Spain has started operation, Andasol 2 has started the commissioning phase and 3 is currently under construction. With a net electricity output of around 150 GWh per year and a collector surface area of over 510, 000 square meters - equal to 70 soccer pitches - they are the largest solar power plants in the world.
Following their construction period of around two years, the Andasol power plants will supply up to 200,000 people with environmentally friendly solar electricity. They will also contribute to Spain's supply reliability and, in particular, cover the demand peaks in the Spanish electricity grid during the summer months. The increased electricity demand is primarily caused by the high energy consumption of air-conditioning units. Each power plant has an electricity output of 50 megawatts and operates with thermal storage. A full thermal reservoir can continue to run the turbines for about 7.5 hours at full-load, even if it rains or long after the sun has set. The heat reservoirs each comprise of two tanks measuring 14 m in height and 36 m in diameter and contain liquid salt. Each provides 28,500 tons of storage medium.
Construction of the Andasol Power Plants
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As Europe's first ever parabolic trough power plant, Andasol 1 is in operation on the Guadix plateau in the province of Granada. In February 2007 the construction of Andasol 2 started in its immediate vicinity. Today, this second power plant is in the test phase. Flagsol GmbH, Solar Millennium AG's technology subsidiary, supplied engineering services for the solar field, i.e. planning, design and construction supervision as well as the control. Upon completion of the power plants, all the stakes in the power plant companies were sold in accordance with the business model.
Another power plant, Andasol 3, which is basically identical in construction, is being built in the direct vicinity. Andasol 3 is being realised by Stadtwerke München and RWE Innogy together with MAN Ferrostaal, RheinEnergie and Solar Millennium and is scheduled to connect to the grid in 2011.
A short movie about the construction of Andasol 1 can be downloaded here (dated as of May 2008): DSL / ISDN
Andasol 1 in spring 2008
