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Solar Energy in Spain
Solar Energy in Spain
Solar Energy
As researchers continue to explore new ways to
promote and improve solar power, Spanish companies
are becoming world leaders in this emerging field.
Innovation in Motion
Spain is now the worlds eighth-largest economy and the fastest
growing in the European Union. It represents more than 2.5%
of the worlds total GDP and a third of all new jobs created in
the Eurozone last year. Spain is fast becoming a leader in innovation and generating advanced solutions in the industries of
aerospace, renewable energies, water treatment, rail, biotechnology, industrial machinery and civil engineering. Spanish firms are
innovators in the field of public-works finance and management,
where six of the worlds top ten companies are from Spain. Where
innovation thrives, so will the successful global enterprises of the
21st century.
To find out more about technology opportunities in Spain, visit:
www.spainbusiness.com
To find out more about New Technologies in Spain, visit:
www.technologyreview.com/spain/solar
Spain is forging ahead with plans to build concentrating solar power plants, establishing the country and Spanish companies
as world leaders in the emerging field. At the same time, the number of installed photovoltaic systems is growing exponentially,
and researchers continue to explore new ways to promote and improve solar power. This is the seventh in an eight-part series
highlighting new technologies in Spain and is produced by Technology Review, Inc.s custom-publishing division in partnership
with the Trade Commission of Spain.
From the road to the Solcar solar plant outside Seville, drivers
can see what appear to be glowing white rays emanating from
a tower, piercing the dry air, and alighting upon the upturned
faces of the tilted mirror panels below. Appearances, though,
are deceiving: those upturned mirrors are actually tracking the
sun and radiating its energy onto a blindingly white square at
the top of the tower, creating the equivalent of the power of 600
suns. That power is used to vaporize water into steam to power
a turbine.
This tower plant uses concentrating solar technology with a
central receiver. Its the first commercial central-receiver system in the world.
Spanish companies and research centers are taking the lead
in the recent revival of concentrating solar power (CSP), a
type of solar thermal power; expanses of mirrors are being
assembled around the country. At the same time, Spanish
companies are investing in huge photovoltaic (PV) fields, as
companies dramatically increase production of PV panels
and investigate the next generation of this technology. Spain
is already fourth in the world in its use of solar power, and
second in Europe, with more than 120 megawatts in about 8,300
installations. Within only the past 10 years, the number of
companies working in solar energy has leapt from a couple
of dozen to a few hundred.
At this plant, were working with the potential of about 3,000 sunsso it
has to be very well designed and operated to provide the best results.
Technologies
The most common technology so far, and
the one in use at Andasol 1, is based on a
series of parabolic troughs, huge curved
mirrors about 18 feet wide that collect the
suns energy and focus it on a receiver pipe
in the middle. Oil streams through that
pipe along a long loop of troughs. The
mirrors slowly track the sun from east to
west during daytime hours, and the oil
reaches about 400 C (about 750 F).
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ASIF
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source :
In the U.S.
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connection points. That can be developed, and I think we can get gigawatts
worth of concentrating solar power over
the next 10 years.
Nevada requires its utilities to generate a percentage of their electricity from
renewable sources. The wind is weak in
southern Nevada, but the sun burns hot,
and the state provided an investment tax
creditso Acciona took on the project.
This type of technology demands vast
amounts of land for the parabolic troughs,
and the plant is most efficient if it can be
sited close to the demand. Conditions in
the western United States, particularly
the Southwest, meet both those requirements. The Western Governors Association has stated its com m itment to
increasing the use of solar thermal power
in the region.
Photovoltaics
The growth of solar in Spain is hardly limited to thermal power. Photovoltaic technology is still the primary source of solar
power; it has been central to the solarpower repertoire since the 1970s, when
Most of the energy increase in the world will be in electricity, and most
of that will be in developing countries.
www.technologyreview.com/spain/solar
Resources
ICEX (Spanish Institute for
Foreign Trade)
www.spainbusiness.com
Acciona Energa
www.acciona-energia.com
Atersa
www.atersa.com
Looking ahead
The Spanish government continues to promote investment in and expansion of both
photovoltaic and solar thermal power,
with a goal of 400 megawatts of installed
power for PV and 500 megawatts for solar
thermal by 2010. This still represents only
a fraction of the countrys total power use
and total renewable production.
The government, however, is committed to advancing the sector. The new
building code of 2006 requires increased
energy efficiency and includes an obligation to meet a significant part of the hotwater demand with passive solar heating.
And the Renewable Energy Plan sets a
lofty goal of 5 million square feet of solar
collectors by 2010. A royal decree
approved in May 2007 improves the feedin tariffs for both solar thermal and PV
facilities. Some experts believe that these
developments could lead Spain to become
the worlds second-largest PV market in
2007. Spanish companies and research
institutions plan to remain at the forefront
of the growing global field.
Says Javier Anta, president of the
Spanish Photovoltaic Industry Association, The solar industry will be a major
part of the governments goal of 20
percent renewable energy by 2020.
Despite the fact that solar is only a small
percentage of renewable power, its
grown more than 100 percent a year in
the past few years. In fact, the sector
grew 200 percent in 2006. He continues,
Were facing a grand challenge: consolidating that which weve achieved so
far, setting the framework for future
development, and creating a sector that
makes our country proud.
Isofotn
www.isofoton.es
SENER
www.sener.es
Siliken
www.siliken.com
Solcar
www.solucar.es
Spanish Photovoltaic
Industry Association
www.asif.org
Contact:
Mr. Enrique Alejo
Trade Commission of Spain
in Chicago
500 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1500
Chicago, IL 60611, USA
T: 312 644 1154
F: 312 527 5531
chicago@mcx.es
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