The Seville's Solar Power Tower — Spain
The PS10 Solar Power
Plant is the world's first commercial concentrating solar power tower
operating near Seville, in Andalusia, Spain. The 11 megawatt (MW) solar
power tower produces electricity with 624 large movable mirrors called
heliostats. It took four years to build and so far cost €35 million
(US$46 million). PS10 produces about 23,400 megawatt-hours (MW·h) per
year, for which it receives €271 (US$360) per MW·h under its power
purchase agreement, equating to a revenue of €6.3 million per year.
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The mirrors were delivered by Abengoa, the solar receiver was designed
and built by Tecnical-Tecnicas Reunidas, a Spanish engineering company;
and the Solar Tower was designed and built by ALTAC, another Spanish
engineering and construction company. Each of the mirrors has a surface
measuring 120 m² (1,292 square feet) that concentrates the sun's rays to
the top of a 115 meter (377 ft) high, 40-story tower where a solar
receiver and a steam turbine are located. The turbine drives a
generator, producing electricity. The PS10 is located 20 km west of
Seville (which receives at least nine hours of sunshine 320 days per
year, with 15 hours per day in mid summer). The solar receiver at the
top of the tower produces saturated steam at 275 °C. The energy
conversion efficiency is approximately 17%.
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