Utility-scale Solar Power  

REW has a set of brief profiles of "key players in the utility-scale" solar thermal power industry - Utility-scale Solar Power.

Santiago Seage, CEO of Abengoa Solar

Abengoa Solar: Equipment suppliers, plant constructors and operators

This technology company is over 25 years old, and has secured a number of CSP development contracts over the past year.

Abengoa Solar started in 1984 when it began building and supplying equipment for the Solar Platform in Almeria, Spain. Today, it is involved in the building of solar plants in Spain, as well as America and Africa. It has a commercial presence in 70 countries.

Its Solnova CSP complex, at Sanlúcar la Mayor in Spain, which is currently under construction, will supply 300 MW by 2013. The construction of Solnova 4 began in 2008.

In September 2009 Abengola Solar was selected by Excel energy, a Colorado-based utility company, to build a parabolic trough CSP plant at its Cameo coal plant in Colorado, US. This plant will be the first of its kind to integrate an industrial solar installation with a conventional power plant.

Also in that month, the company opened its PS20 power plant at the Solúcar Platform in Sanlúcar la Mayor, Seville. It has a 20 MW capacity and the Solúcar Platform will also house a research centre for both photovoltaic and CSP technologies.

Abengoa is also currently planning its second concentrating solar power plant in the town of Logrosán, Spain. This 50 MW parabolic trough technology plant is due to go into operation in mid-2011. In October 2009 the company also signed a 250 MW power purchase agreement with Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) for the output from the Mojave Solar Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plant between Barstow and Kramer Junction in California. It is due to begin commercial operations in 2013.