The Andasol solar power station is a 150-

megawatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units, International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), ...

(MW)

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 when ...

station and Europe's first commercial plant to use

parabolic trough A parabolic trough is a type of solar thermal collector that is straight in one dimension and curved as a parabola in the other two, lined with a polished metal mirror. The sunlight which enters the mirror parallel to its plane of symmetry is foc ...

s. It is located near

Guadix Guadix (; Local pronunciation: aˈðih is a city and municipality in southern Spain, in the province of Granada. The city lies at an altitude of 913 metres, on the centre of the Hoya of Guadix, a high plain at the northern foothills of the Sierr ...

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

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") , i ...

, and its name is a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsthermal energy storage Thermal energy storage (TES) is achieved with widely different technologies. Depending on the specific technology, it allows excess thermal energy to be stored and used hours, days, months later, at scales ranging from the individual process, ...

to continue generating electricity, irrespective of whether the sun is shining or not.

Description

Andasol is the first parabolic trough power plant in Europe, and Andasol 1 went online in March 2009. Because of the high altitude (1,100 m) and the semi-arid climate, the site has exceptionally high annual direct

insolation Solar irradiance is the power per unit area (surface power density) received from the Sun in the form of electromagnetic radiation in the wavelength range of the measuring instrument. Solar irradiance is measured in watts per square metre (W/m ...

of 2,200 kWh/m² per year. Each plant has a gross electricity output of 50 megawatts (MW_e) and 49.9 MW_e net, producing around 165

gigawatt-hour A kilowatt-hour (unit symbol: kW⋅h or kW h; commonly written as kWh) is a unit of energy: one kilowatt of power for one hour. In terms of SI derived units with special names, it equals 3.6 megajoules (MJ). Kilowatt-hours are a common bil ...

s (GW·h) per year. The collectors installed have a combined surface area of 51

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...

s (equal to 70 soccer fields); it occupies about 200 ha of land. Andasol has a

thermal storage Thermal energy storage (TES) is achieved with widely different technologies. Depending on the specific technology, it allows excess thermal energy to be stored and used hours, days, months later, at scales ranging from the individual process, ...

system which absorbs part of the heat produced in the solar field during the day. This heat is then stored in a

molten salt Molten salt is salt which is solid at standard temperature and pressure but enters the liquid phase due to elevated temperature. Regular table salt has a melting point of 801 °C (1474°F) and a heat of fusion of 520 J/g.< ...

mixture of 60%

sodium nitrate Sodium nitrate is the chemical compound with the formula . This alkali metal nitrate salt is also known as Chile saltpeter (large deposits of which were historically mined in Chile) to distinguish it from ordinary saltpeter, potassium nitrate. T ...

and 40%

potassium nitrate Potassium nitrate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . This alkali metal nitrate salt is also known as Indian saltpetre (large deposits of which were historically mined in India). It is an ionic salt of potassium ions K+ and nitrat ...

. This process almost doubles the number of operational hours at the solar thermal power plant per year. Each unit fully loaded storage system holds 1,010 MW·h_t of heat, enough to run the turbine and produce electricity for about 7.5 hours at full-load, in case of overcast skies or after sunset. The heat reservoirs each consist of two tanks measuring 14 m in height and 36 m in diameter and containing molten salt. Andasol 1 is able to supply environmentally friendly solar electricity for up to 200,000 people. Andasol consists of 3 projects: Andasol-1(

NREL The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in the US specializes in the research and development of renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy systems integration, and sustainable transportation. NREL is a federally funded research and d ...

Andasol-1
/ref> (completed 2008), Andasol-2(NREL
Andasol-2
/ref> (completed 2009) and Andasol-3(NREL
Andasol-3
/ref> (completed 2011). Each project generates approximately 165 GW-h each per year (a total of 495 GW-h for all three combined). The total cost of building the three projects was estimated to €900 million.

Rationale

Andasol 1 cost around €300 million (US$380 million) to build. Thermal energy storage costs roughly US$50 per kWh of capacity (150 lbs of salt per kWh at a storage temperature of 400 °C), according to Greg Glatzmaier of the U.S.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in the US specializes in the research and development of renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy systems integration, and sustainable transportation. NREL is a federally funded research and d ...

(NREL), totaling about 13% of Andasol's initial cost. The developers say Andasol's electricity will cost €0.271 per

kilowatt-hour A kilowatt-hour (unit symbol: kW⋅h or kW h; commonly written as kWh) is a unit of energy: one kilowatt of power for one hour. In terms of SI derived units with special names, it equals 3.6 megajoules (MJ). Kilowatt-hours are a common bil ...

(kW·h) to produce. Under current government policy in Spain, solar-thermal electricity will receive a

feed-in tariff A feed-in tariff (FIT, FiT, standard offer contract,Couture, T., Cory, K., Kreycik, C., Williams, E., (2010)Policymaker's Guide to Feed-in Tariff Policy Design National Renewable Energy Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy advanced renewable tariff, ...

of just under €0.27/kW·h for the next 25 years. Like every power plant with a thermal engine, cooling is needed for the

working fluid For fluid power, a working fluid is a gas or liquid that primarily transfers force, motion, or mechanical energy. In hydraulics, water or hydraulic fluid transfers force between hydraulic components such as hydraulic pumps, hydraulic cylinders, a ...

. As Andasol is built in the warm middle of the south of Spain, every Andasol unit vaporizes 870.000 m³ water per year (according to the developer), or 5 L/kWh (1.3 USgal/kWh). Most power plants vaporize less water (typically less than 2.5 L/kWh), or close to none if they are cooled by river or sea water. Although water supply is generally a problem in Spain, Andasol has ample supply due to its location near the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

mountain range.

Developers Andasol 1 & 2

The developer of the Andasol 1 and Andasol 2 plants are

Solar Millennium Solar Millennium was a German company globally active in the renewable energy sector founded in 1998 in Erlangen, Germany, which is specialized in the designing and implementation of solar thermal power plants. The main activities are site selectio ...

(25%) and

ACS Cobra ACS or Acs may refer to: Organizations and societies * American Cancer Society, an American voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer * American Ceramic Society, an American professional organization * American Cheese Societ ...

(75%). After planning, engineering and construction Solar Millennium sold their shares to ACS Group. In 2017, the two international funds,

Antin Infrastructure Partners Antin Infrastructure Partners is a private equity firm focused on infrastructure investment, with offices in Paris, London and Luxembourg. History Antin was founded in Paris in 2007. Initially sponsored by BNP Paribas, the firm bought out the bank ...

and Deutsche Asset Management's infrastructure investment business, and the Spanish construction company Cobra Sistemas y Redes, sold full ownership to Cubico Sustainable Investments Limited. In 2018, the ICSID – the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes – issued a ruling that required Spain to pay €112 million to Antin Infrastructure Partners, which had claimed €218 million over the cuts to renewable energies subsidies in 2010.

Developers Andasol 3

Andasol 3 is developed by the consortium of Solar Millennium and MAN Ferrostaal. Marquesado Solar SL is the investor consortium which is going to commission and operate Andasol 3. Shareholders of Marquesado Solar SL are: *

Stadtwerke München Stadtwerke München GmbH (Munich City Utilities) or SWM is a German communal company, owned by the city of Munich, which offers public services for the city and the region of Munich. The company supplies electricity for more than 95% of Munich's 7 ...

(48.9%) * MAN Ferrostaal AG (26%) *

Innogy Innogy SE was an energy company based in Essen, Germany. It is now merged and integrated into German energy company E.ON. History The company was created on 1 April 2016, by splitting the renewable, network and retail businesses of RWE into a ...

RheinEnergie AG RheinEnergie can refer to: * RheinEnergie AG, energy company based in Cologne * RheinEnergieStadion, sports stadium in Cologne *Köln 99ers Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rh ...

(25.1%)

References

External links