The Valle Solar Power Station is a two adjacent twin 50 MW

solar thermal 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 ...

plants (Arcosol-50, also Valle 1 and Termesol-50, also Valle 2, was Vallesol-2) in

San José del Valle San José del Valle is a municipality located in the province of Cádiz, southern Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (L ...

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, ...

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 ...

, near the border with the

Arcos de la Frontera Arcos de la Frontera () is a town and municipality in the Sierra de Cádiz comarca, province of Cádiz, in Andalusia, Spain. It is located on the northern, western and southern banks of the Guadalete river, which flows around three sides of the ...

(north) and the

Jerez de la Frontera Jerez de la Frontera (), or simply Jerez (), is a Spanish city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality in the province of Cádiz in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, in southwestern Spain, located midway bet ...

(west) municipalities, in the

comarca A ''comarca'' (, or , or ) is a traditional region or local administrative division found in Portugal, Spain and some of their former colonies, like Brazil, Nicaragua, and Panama. The term is derived from the term ''marca'', meaning a "march, ...

of the

Campiña de Jerez The comarca of the Campiña de Jerez (the Jerez countryside) is a comarca (county, but with no administrative role) in the province of Cádiz, southern Spain. The Campiña de Jerez comarca consists of the municipalities of Jerez de la Frontera a ...

(the Jerez countryside), a county with no administrative role. The station generates power using

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 ...

technology. It became operational in January 2012. The Valle plant is owned by

Torresol Energy Torresol Energy is a company dedicated to developing renewable energy and alternative energies, focusing on concentrated solar energy. It is based in the city of Getxo in Biscay Province (''Vizcaya''), in the Basque Country of northern Spain ...

, a joint venture between SENER (60%) and the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (40%). It was built by SENER between December 2009 and December 2011, at a cost of €540 million (US$700 million). Construction on Valle 1 and Valle 2 began in December 2009 and was completed in December 2011. Roughly 4,500 workers dedicated over 2.7 million labor hours over the two years of construction until the plants were commissioned and connected to the Spanish national grid. Each 50 MW_e has the capacity to supply 160 Gwh of safe, clean power per year, to supply 40,000 homes. Together they reduce emissions by 90,000 tons every year. Their molten salt storage system allows them to continue producing electricity even without solar radiation. In addition to providing a manageable source of clean power, they can also supply electricity to the power grid based on demand. The power station consists of two adjacent plants, Valle 1 and Valle 2. Each one has a

nameplate capacity Nameplate capacity, also known as the rated capacity, nominal capacity, installed capacity, or maximum effect, is the intended full-load sustained output of a facility such as a power station,

of 50 MW, using

SENER SENER is a private engineering and technology group founded in 1956, and specialises in activities related to Engineering and Construction, and has industrial holdings in companies working in the areas of energy, environment and aeronautics. SEN ...

collectors creating solar fields of 510,120 square metres on a total surface area of . Net electrical output for each section is expected to be 160

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 bi ...

s (GW·h) per year. Each plant will have a molten salt thermal storage system containing 28,500 tons of

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.Journal of Chemical T ...

(60% sodium nitrate / 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 nitr ...

), capable of storing enough heat to generate 750 MWh of electricity — enough to operate at full power for 7.5 hours without sunshine. Valle 1 and Valle 2 use SENERtrough parabolic trough collector technology, which concentrates solar radiation into a central collector tube with circulating

thermal oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

. They also have high precision optical sensors which track the sun from east to west. The hot oil is used to vaporize water, which through expansion in a steam turbine, propels a power generator that sends power to the electrical grid.

References

External links

* {{Solar power in Europe Solar power stations in Spain Solar thermal energy Energy in Andalusia

See also

References

External links