Spain’s Abengoa Solar has commenced operation of the new PS20 solar power plant located at the Solúcar Platform, near Seville in Spain.
PS20 is the world’s second power tower plant in commercial use and the largest. With a power generation capacity of 20 megawatts, double that of the other plant, the new PS20 solar farm will produce enough renewable energy to supply 10,000 homes – avoiding the emission of approximately 12,000 tons of CO 2 compared to conventional coal fired power generation.
Unlike photovoltaic (PV) panel based solar farms, the PS20 solar power station consists of 1,255 mirrored heliostats. Each heliostat has a surface area of approximately 120 square metres. The heliostats reflects sunlight onto a receiver, located on the top of a 162 metre-high tower. This receiver heats water, that then produces steam which is run through a turbine to create electricity.
The earlier PS10 solar field is comprised of 624 Sanlucar 120 heliostats of the same surface area, concentrating solar radiation onto a receiver located on 115 metre high tower. The electricity produced by PS10 is enough to supply electricity for 6,000 homes.
Abengoa Solar is also currently constructing the Solúcar solar farm, which will generate 300 MW of electricity from a variety of solar sources, being 50 MW from tower technology, 250 MW from parabolic troughs, 1.2 MW produced by solar panels and 80 MW from dish Stirling technology.
