Fresnel collector.
We pulled up at 11:30 a.m. at Spain’s National Research Center. Eduardo Zarza Moya, head of this facility shared that Ciemat, the Spanish equivalent of the DOE, owns this research facility that focuses solely on concentrated solar.
We saw four technologies when we were here:
1) A central receiver or tower. The research performed here over decades has set the stage for Abengoa to produce working 10 and 10 MW plants. Plataforma is looking to reduce the need for heat exchangers by using a thermal salt loop directly in the receiver in the tower.
2) Parabolic Trough collectors. Plataforma has long performed research in this area and has done extensive testing of thermal salts used for thermal storage. Zarza Moya shared that an Italian company is looking at going directly to thermal salts, which would require draining the salts from the tubes at night and preheating tubes in the morning prior to filling. more…
SEPA members pose
at last stop on the solar train
through Spain.
It’s five o’clock in the afternoon, and we are leaving the last PV plant of the tour. This plant was installed and is maintained by the Assyce group using First Solar Cadmium Telluride panels.
The plant has been in operation for five months. This 2.1 MW solar station was built in four weeks by 110 workers.
Asked about potential hail damage, the panels have been tested to take impact by 1-inch diameter hail balls. This facility sends power from every 13 rows to inverters. The three-phase AC power is then transformed to 20 kV. more…
Andasol 1 Central Solar Station
also provides thermal storage.
If you talk to the executives at RTOs and ISOs, their business is all about dispatchability. Whether it is virtual generation like demand-side management, whether load shifting with batteries or pumped hydro or the various forms of generation, the dispatchers must have flexibility as they work to balance generation and load at lowest cost.
Today I toured an operating generation station here outside Granada, Spain, that is dispatching solar into the grid. Here is how it works.
The sun is focused through mirrored parabolic troughs onto tubes containing thermal oil. A portion of that oil is sent to heat exchangers to run steam turbines. Oil from other collectors is sent to a different heat exchanger, which then stores the heat in vast tanks of solar salts. more…
The ASEA fact finding mission
gathers at Cobras Central Solar Station.
Many choices to consider. Single crystal, polycrystalline or amorphous thin film? Conversion efficiencies can vary from single digits to 25%. Utilities are taking into account the cost of land when selecting their panels.
And then you address the issue of how to mount. Stationary, single axis tracking or dual tracking?
And then yet another issue faces you. Would you like panels mounted such that you concentrate solar by reflecting additional sunlight on the panel?
Not to mention quality issues. As I understand, a segment of the panels from lower cost countries have significantly underperformed those manufactured in Europe and the United States. So buyer beware.
And then we get down to the balance of plant. Wiring systems, connection stations, inverters, transformation, connection to the grid. And then security is becoming quite an issue so we see infrared cameras, fences and decidedly unfriendly dogs. more…
Old Seville
We arrived in Seville at 6 p.m. and had three hours of free time before dinner at 9 p.m. That gave me the chance to join Devi and Bianca for the opportunity to stroll through the streets of old Seville.
We walked down incredibly narrow streets in no seeming order. Many of the apartments are tremendously ornate with second-story ledges just wide enough to set out flowers.
As we arrived at the center, we walked under purple flowering trees and along flower towers that were simply breathtaking. We’d occasionally come across belltowers that reminded me of the Plaza and Kansas City back home. You see, the premier architect of Kansas City had traveled all of Europe to come up with a motif for his grand shopping region and decided to base his design on the streets of old Seville. more…
Solar tower collects rays
from concentrating mirrors
to drive steam turbine.
As we pulled up to the Abengoa Solar facility an hour’s drive out of Seville, we could see rays of sun reflecting off the solar mirrors lighting up the mist in the air near the collector. The SEPA delegation was treated to two fully operating solar towers, one at 10 MW and another at 20 MW. These towers use steam as the working fluid with the steam running through a GE steam turbine to generate electricity.
Among all the cool experiences in touring the plant, I would rate the trip to the control center at the top. Operators could see the exact thermal profile of the 316 stainless steel heat exchange tubes. Slick. I also took a photo of the giant window-washing machines that run every day. The actual focusing of individual mirrors was not the problem that Abengoa engineers thought it might be. more…
Carlos Gasco’ Travesado,
Head of Perspective
Unfortunately there was one member of the SEPA delegation who was late for the bus this morning and that threw off the entire schedule for the day.
Even more unfortunate, that person was me. Thank goodness Ervan Hancock, the secretary/treasurer of SEPA came back and got me, or this blog would not be coming your way. more…
Our delegation picks up
the best of Spanish traditions:
wine and roses.
Dinner the second night in Old Madrid was again a merry affair with wine and roses. OK, so maybe chrysanthemums. Regardless, The senoras and senoritas were in full bloom this night.
I spent the dinner hour chatting with our lovely hosts from Phoenix Solar, Dasniel and Pablo who just might not have been quite as photogenic. They shared with me the single lives they lead in Madrid and gave me an insight into how integral is the social aspect of getting together with friends on the streets and cafes in this lovely and engaging city.
Yo este dos nuevos amigos,
Hasta de luego,
Ricardo de Madrid
Sheep and solar cells
Solar farming and sheep herding do mix, we found out as we saw a herd of sheep, some with bells around their necks, grazing among the solar panels. They didn’t seem at all perturbed by the clicking and whirring of the tracking solar panels as the panels came alive, rotating and adjusting their angle to catch the most sun. The sheep did seem a little more susceptible to the humans spreading out among them.
As we wandered through the solar farm, inspecting solar panels, cabling cabinets and converter stations, I couldn’t help feeling a little like those sheep as ewe were gently led from one location to another. more…
No, this is not a misspelling. IDAE is a state organization, the Ministerio de Industrio, Turismo y Comercio. This entity recommends rates to the organizations in Spain that set the feed-in tariffs for large-scale solar installations now delivering power into the grid. They also set future tariffs for projects yet to be built. At present, solar doesn’t have to bid into the grid because solar power is must-take. But they are required to predict anticipated output into the grid.
Hugo Lucas with IDAE shared how his organization worked to come up with rates that kicked off massive investments in the Spanish solar market, both photovoltaic and thermal. And now as the prices of solar are coming down, the rates for future projects will reflect these lower costs. The expectation is that as the rates continue to come down over time, new solar installations will ultimately get to the price point that they can also bid into the generation market. Installations in place have access to guaranteed rates over their 25-year life. more…
