Solar Power World

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Termosolar Alcazar, a 50/50 joint venture between SolarReserve, a U.S. developer of utility-scale solar power projects and Preneal, a Spanish developer of renewable energy projects, today announced the Spanish government’s award of tender for the venture’s 50 megawatt (MW) solar thermal plant to be built in Alcazar de San Juan.

The Termosolar Alcazar Power Project will contribute to Spain’s renewable energy generation through new highly innovative, fully dispatchable molten salt concentrated solar power tower technology. Termosolar Alcazar was awarded this tender through a competitive bid process based on delivered electricity price, technology innovation and the advanced state of the project development activities.

Artist's rendering depicting the Termasolar Alcazar Power Project that employs SolarReserve's utility-scale molten salt power tower technology.

The Termosolar Alcazar Power Project will generate enough clean, reliable energy to power 70,000 homes in the region and help Spain achieve the EU Climate & Energy objectives, which include: reduction in greenhouse gas emissions to below 20 percent of 1990 levels, 20 percent of the nation’s energy consumption from renewable resources and a 20 percent reduction in primary energy use compared to projected levels. The project will incorporate significant Spanish and US equipment and materials and engineering creating an estimated 4,000 jobs in Spain and more than 2,500 jobs in the United States during the two year construction period.

The project will utilize SolarReserve’s utility scale molten salt solar power tower technology developed by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, a subsidiary of United Technologies, which features integrated energy storage to deploy electricity on-demand, day or night, providing the same operating stability, reliability and dispatchability of a conventional power generator while utilizing dry cooling.  The characteristics of the technology along with its capability to reduce the price of power were critical attributes in this tender process.

In November of 2009, the Termosolar Alcazar Power Project received a Declaracion de Impacto from the government of Castilla-La Mancha, the key environmental permit necessary for the construction of the plant.