The Solar Platform of Almería (PSA) is the largest concentrating solar technology research, development and test centre in Europe, situated in the

Province of Almería Almería (, also ; ) is a province of the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It was named after the Arab ruler of Taifa, Banu Al-Miri. It is bordered by the provinces of Granada, Murcia, and the Mediterranean Sea. Its capital is the homony ...

, Spain in Tabernas.

History

The PSA was founded in 1981 by the IEA – International Energy Agency. Since 1987 it has belonged to Spain through the Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (

CIEMAT The Centre for Energy, Environmental and Technological Research (CIEMAT), until 1986 Junta de Energía Nuclear (JEN), is a Spanish public research institution. History The Centre for Energy, Environmental and Technological Research (CIEMAT) is ...

), a public research organization of the Government of Spain. PSA has been a European Large Installation Facility since 1990 and belongs to the selected group (created in 2014) of Spanish singular scientific and technical infrastructures (ICTS, its Spanish acronym).

Testing

Over 20,000 m² of

mirror A mirror, also known as a looking glass, is an object that Reflection (physics), reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror forms an image of whatever is in front of it, which is then focused through the lens of the eye or a camera ...

s are installed on a site. There are several techniques tested under practical conditions, mainly solar thermal power plants. Hydrosol-2 is a

solar power tower A solar power tower, also known as 'central tower' power plant or 'heliostat' power plant, is a type of solar furnace using a tower to receive focused sunlight. It uses an array of flat, movable mirrors (called heliostats) to focus the sun's ra ...

and a set of

heliostat A heliostat () is a device that reflects sunlight toward a target, turning to compensate for the Sun's apparent motion. The reflector is usually a plane mirror. The target may be a physical object, distant from the heliostat, or a direct ...

s to collect the

solar thermal energy Solar thermal energy (STE) is a form of energy and a technology for harnessing solar energy to generate thermal energy for use in Industrial sector, industry, and in the residential and commercial sectors. Solar thermal collectors are classified ...

Site

* Facility belongs to CIEMAT, a public research organization under the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO). * R&D activities focus on potential industrial applications of concentrating

and solar

photochemistry Photochemistry is the branch of chemistry concerned with the chemical effects of light. Generally, this term is used to describe a chemical reaction caused by absorption of ultraviolet (wavelength from 100 to 400 Nanometre, nm), visible ligh ...

. * Built on a plot of 103 hectares located in Tabernas (Almería). * About 120 staff, of which 40% are researchers. Campo-de-heliostatos-CESA1

Milestones

*1975: The

International Energy Agency The International Energy Agency (IEA) is a Paris-based autonomous intergovernmental organization, established in 1974, that provides policy recommendations, analysis and data on the global energy sector. The 31 member countries and 13 associatio ...

(IEA) decided to design and build a facility in one location to validate the solar thermal technology potential for the production of electricity.
*1976: A work group in the IEA proposed the development of two 500 kW thermosolar power plants (CRS y DCS) within the SSPS project.
*1977: Spain, through the Centro de Estudios de la Energía (CEE), started a study on a solar power plant tower of 1,2 MWe (Project CESA 1)
*1978: Basic engineering for project CESA-1 started, decision to install the solar project in Tabernas, Almería.
*1979: Start of civil works for the construction of PSA
*1981: Official inauguration of CRS and DCS plants of the Project SSPS
*1983: Inauguration of the CESA-1 plant
*1985: SSPS project finished and the activity undertaken here was replaced by SolarPACES activity that remains ongoing today
*1986: Unification of the various facilities in the PSA, which was taken over by the Institute of Renewable Energy of CIEMAT.
*1987: Signing of the Hispano-German Agreement with DLR for the co-management of PSA
*1990: Recognition as 'Large European Science Facility'
*1998: The management of PSA is no longer based on the Hispano-German Agreement; responsibility of the PSA is entirely Spanish
*2005: The PSA is fully integrated into the CIEMAT structure, becoming a division of the Department of Energy

Research

Research activity at the Plataforma Solar de Almería has been structured around three R&D units: * Solar Concentrating Systems Unit. * Solar

Desalination Desalination is a process that removes mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination is the removal of salts and minerals from a substance. One example is Soil salinity control, soil desalination. This is important for agric ...

Unit. * Solar Treatment of Water Unit.

Test facilities

#CESA-1 and SSPS-CRS central receiver systems, 5 and 2.5 MWth respectively. #TCP-100 2.3-MWth parabolic-trough collector field with associated 115-m3 thermal oil storage system. #DISS 2.5-MWth test loop, an excellent experimental system for two-phase flow and direct steam generation with parabolic trough collectors in different working conditions, up to 500 °C and 100bar. #The FRESDEMO “linear Fresnel” technology loop. #Pressurized gas-cooled parabolic-trough collectors system coupled to two-tank molten salt thermal energy storage facility. #A parabolic-trough collector test facility with thermal oil (the HTF-PTC Test loop) for qualification of solar components. #A rotary test bench for parabolic trough collectors, named KONTAS. #4-unit dish/Stirling facility, named DISTAL, and 2 EuroDish units. #A group of 3 solar furnaces, two of them with horizontal axis 60 kWth and 40 kWth, and a third one with vertical axis of 5 kWth. #A test stand for small evaluation and qualification of parabolic trough collectors, named CAPSOL. #A 14-stage multi-effect

distillation Distillation, also classical distillation, is the process of separating the component substances of a liquid mixture of two or more chemically discrete substances; the separation process is realized by way of the selective boiling of the mixt ...

(MED) plant. #A multiple solar

detoxification Detoxification or detoxication (detox for short) is the physiological or medicinal removal of toxic substances from a living organism, including the human body, which is mainly carried out by the liver. Additionally, it can refer to the period o ...

and disinfection application facilities. #The ARFRISOL building, an energy research demonstrator office building prototypes. #A

meteorological station A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for measuring atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include tempera ...

integrated in the ‘Baseline Surface Radiation Network’.

References

*La electricidad termosolar, historia de éxito de la investigación. Protermosolar, Sevilla, 2012. *Plataforma Solar de Almeria. Annual Report 2012. NIPO 721-13-016-4. *Annual Technical Report 1994, Plataforma Solar de Almeria. . *Tecnología Energéticas e Impacto Ambiental. Macgraw-Hill/Interamericana, 2001.

External links

*
Impressions ''Plataforma Solar de Almería''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Plataforma Solar de Almeria Solar power in Spain Buildings and structures in the Province of Almería Organizations established in 1981 1981 establishments in Andalusia