Shams One 100 MW CSP Plant in Abu Dhabi

Update on Project Status

Olaf Goebel
1
, Francisco Luque
2


1
Hochschule Hamm Lippstadt, Marker Allee 76-78, 59063 Hamm, Germany, Phone +49 2381 8789-427, email: olaf.goebel@hshl.de
2
Senior CSP Expert., Masdar Power, P.O.Box 54115, Abu Dhabi, UAE, phone: +971 2 653-2077, email fluque@masdar.ae

Abstract
A 100 MW Parabolic Trough CSP plant named Shams 1 is under construction in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The plant
is owned and operated by Shams Power Company, an Independent Power Producer (IPP) who sells the
generated power to the off-taker in Abu Dhabi, ADWEC. This paper describes the key technical data and the
commercial setup of the project. Furthermore, the status of the construction as of July 2012 will be briefly
described.
Keywords: Parabolic Trough, IPP, Abu Dhabi, Middle East
1. Introduction
In April 2006 Abu Dhabi Government decided to launch the Masdar Initiative, a long term strategic program
for future energy technologies. The initiative approaches the subject from many sides. The program includes
education, R&D, manufacturing and renewable energy project deployment. Renewable energy project
deployment consists of an international and a domestic stream.
Abu Dhabi plans to install approx. 1500 MW capacity of renewable energy power plants in the Emirate until
the year 2020. The most of this capacity will be sourced from CSP and PV technologies. While the first CSP
plant, Shams 1 will be build without thermal storage, the later ones will have storage which will allow them
to operate up to 6000 full load hours per year. With the storage and an integrated gas fired steam generator
the CSP plants will be able to provide firm capacity.
The first plant of this series is the plant named Shams 1. (Shams means sun in Arabic.) It will have a
capacity of 100 MW.
2. Main Technical data
Shams 1 is a Parabolic Trough Solar Power Plant. Key technical data can be summarized as follows:
Nominal electric power at DNI 730 W/m
2
: 100 MW (max. net output: 110 MW)
Mirror aperture: 627 840 m
2
(192 loops of 4 ASTRO 150 collectors each)
Solar field area: approx. 2.5 km
2

Cooling: dry cooling
Grid Connection: 220 kV
DNI resource at site: 1934 kWh / m
2
/a
1

Expected power generation p.a.: 210 GWh / a
Location: Madinat Zayed (120 km south west of Abu Dhabi)

1
In earlier publications about the project a value of 2200 was provided. However, that value was based on
satellite data only, and had to be revised after ground based data became available.
There is not enough water available at the Shams 1 plant site which would allow for the operation of a wet
cooling tower. Therefore Shams 1 will use an air cooled condenser, ACC. This is more costly and less
efficient than a wet cooling tower. However, as most sites in the world suitable for large scale solar power
plants do not offer sufficient water for a wet cooling tower, dry cooling will have to be used in many future
projects. Shams 1 will be the first CSP plant in the world to demonstrate this.
In order to compensate for the lower turbine efficiency caused by the air cooled condenser at the cold end of
the turbine, a gas fired boost burner has been integrated to boost the inlet steam temperature from 380C to
540C. This boost burner will contribute approx. 18% of the total heat input to the plant. Gas burnt in the
boost burner is converted into electricity at a very high efficiency.
In order to compensate for fluctuations caused by cloudy weather conditions, a gas fired heater has been
introduced which heats the HTF (Heat Transfer Fluid) in parallel to the solar field. This heater will only be
used on cloudy days when cloud passages would cause high fluctuations at the steam generator. The heater
can also be used to run the power plant even without any sun shine. This was one requirement of ADWEC
(Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Company), the off-taker of the electricity generated by Shams 1. The
availability at all times of the year (the so called firm capacity) makes the plant more valuable for the off-
taker, because he does not need to keep a stand by plant ready at his own cost for the case that he would need
the power during a time when the sun is not shining. It is expected that the HTF heater will contribute
approx. 4 % of the total annual energy input to the plant.
Figure 1 shows a schematic of the Shams 1 plant including the two gas fired burners (HTF heater and booster
heater) and the air cooled condenser, ACC.

Fig. 1: Schematic of Shams 1 Plant
3. Key Data of the Time Schedule
End of 2006 First announcement of the project Shams 1
Sept 2007 Masdar decides to conduct the project
May 2008 Sending RfP (Request for Proposal) to 4 bidding consortia
March 2009 Nominating the Abengoa / Total Consortium as First Ranked Bidder
May 2009 Project put on hold, when DNI resource estimate was reduced by 12.5 %
Winter 2009 Re-start the approval process with Abu Dhabi Government
Winter 2009 Rigorous audit of the tender process by RSB (Regulation and Supervision Bureau)
May 2010 Award of the EPC and O&M contract to the respective subsidiaries of Abengoa and Total,
signing of shareholder agreement for the Project Company Shams Power Company
July 2010 Start of construction
February 2011 First Solar collector module in place
March 2011 Achieving Financial Closure
May 2011 Site leveling completed
May 2011 Steam Turbine in place
July 2011 HTF heaters in place
January 2012 Solar Collector implementation completed
May 2012 Commission of the first plant components
July 2012 Construction 99% completed
Forecast
End of 2012 Completion Date
4. Project Structure
The plant will be built owned and operated by a special purpose vehicle (SPV) called the Shams Power
Company. The SPV is owned 60% by Masdar (full name of Masdar: ADFEC = Abu Dhabi Future Energy
Company) and 40% by Total Abengoa Solar Emirates Investment Company. Figure 2 visualizes the project
setup.
SHAMS
POWER
COMPANY
ADFEC
Total Abengoa Solar
Emirates Investment Company
60% 40%
Mubadala
100%
Shareholders Agreement
EPC Contract
ABENER / TEYMA J V
EPC Guarantor
O&M Agreement Total Abengoa Solar
Emirates O&M Company
Gas Supply Agreement
ADNOC
ADWEC
Power Purchase
Agreement
Department
of Finance
Green
Payment
Agreement
Connection Agreement
TRANSCO
Land
Agreement
Government of Abu Dhabi
100%
ABENGOA S.A.
100% indirectly via Abener and Teyma,
both affiliates of Abeinsa,
subsidiary of Abengoa S.A.
TOTAL S.A.
50%
ABENGOA S.A.
50%
O&M Guarantors
(joint and several)
TOTAL ENERGIE SOLAIRE
CONCENTREE SAS
ABENGOA SOLAR
VENTURES SA
TOTAL S.A. ABENGOA S.A.
TOTAL ENERGIE SOLAIRE
CONCENTREE SAS
ABENGOA SOLAR
VENTURES SA
50% 50%

Fig. 2: Shams 1 Project Structure (Entities in boxes, agreements at arrows)
Shams Power Company contracted the EPC contractor to build and the O&M contractor to operate the plant.
The EPC and the O&M contracts have been signed in May 2010.
ADNOC will supply the gas for the HTF heater and the boost burner. The amount of gas which can be used
per year has been limited to 600 000 MMBTU per year.
Shams Power Company has obtained a license for power generation from RSB (Regulation & Supervision
Bureau).
ADWEC (Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Company) will buy the electricity from Shams Power Company.
A respective PPA was negotiated between Masdar and ADWEC, and was later novated to Shams Power
Company.
A Green Payment agreement between the Department of Finance, ADWEC and Masdar bridges the gap
between the tariff paid to Shams Power Company and the current market value of electricity in Abu Dhabi.
5. Construction Status as of July 2012
The site of the Shams 1 plant lies in a desert area south of the town of Madinat Zayed in the Western Region
of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.


Fig. 3: Shams 1 Site South of the Town of Madinat Zayed
The plant site of 2.5 km
2
area (2.5 million m
2
) consists of sand dunes and had an elevation difference of 14 m
between the highest and the lowest point. In total almost 4 million m
3
of sand needed to be relocated to
achieve a flat terrain as required for a Parabolic Trough type CSP plant.
Flattening the site took almost 10 months from July 2010 to May 2011. However, it should be noted that the
works started in parallel to the mobilization, and the number of workforce and equipment was ramped up
during the first months. Furthermore, it should be noted that the construction of foundations and buildings
started before the leveling was completed at all parts of the solar field.
After flattening the site it was prepared for hosting the foundations of the collectors and the power block.
These site specific preparations lead to noteworthy additional construction costs compared to plants built at
sites with simpler soil conditions. This should be considered when planning plants at similar site conditions,
e.g. in the Sahara desert.
Delivery of the trough collector components (reflectors, receiver tubes, steel structure elements) started at the
end of 2010. They were stored in tent like temporary structures. The assembly of the collector modules took
place in a large hall on site. The planned assembly rate was achieved by using the workforce of three shifts.
The total workforce at site peaked at 1200 people. In January 2012 the installation of the collectors was
completed.
Construction was 99% completed in July 2012. First commissioning activities have started in May 2012.
Commercial operation is expected to start by the end of 2012.

Fig. 4: Pictures of Shams 1 Site Leveling


Fig. 5: Part of the solar field in December 2011


Fig. 6: front: solar steam generator, left rear: HTF heater (7 units), right rear: booster heater (2 units)

Fig. 7: HTF headers in the solar field
6. Financing
The project achieved the targeted goal of 80% of its cost being debt financed on a non recourse basis. The
term of the debt is 20 years post construction. Financial close was achieved in March 2011. Being the first
renewable energy IPP deal in the Middle East the project has been awarded with the Deal of the Year
Award of the international magazine Project Finance. The lenders included: BNP Paribas, KfW, Mizuho,
National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Natixis, Socit Gnrale, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, The Bank
of Toyko-Mitsubishi, Union National Bank and WestLB.
7. Summary and Outlook
Shams 1 will be the first large scale solar power plant in the Middle East. It will start commercial operation
by the end of 2012. It will generate approximately 210 GWh of clean electricity per year. The PPA has a term
of 25 years from COD (Commercial Operation Date).
The plant is creating more than 1200 jobs during the peak time of the two year construction period and some
60 permanent jobs during the operation period. Furthermore it will serve as a crystallization point for solar
energy related R&D projects conducted by MI (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology).
Beside these hard facts the Shams 1 project is also a strong statement of commitment of the Abu Dhabi
Government towards future energy.
The next solar power project to be implemented by Masdar is a large scale PV plant named Noor 1. As
Shams 1 it will have a capacity of 100 MW. Recent price drops in PV and the fact that Abu Dhabi has a very
high Global Irradiation (GHI 2200 kWh / m
2
/a) and only an average level of Direct Normal Irradiation
(DNI = 1925 kWh / m
2
/a) led to a revision of the initial plan to realize the most of the targeted 1500 MW
with CSP plants. The new plan favors a mixture between PV and CSP.
8. Acknowledgements
Masdar wants to thank the Executive Council of Abu Dhabi for making this project happen by granting the
Green Payment to the project.
The project has been implemented in a country which had no framework for renewable energies in place
when the project was kicked off. It was only possible to deliver the project in a rather short period of time
due to the immense support Masdar experienced with all relevant Abu Dhabi entities. Here we want to
express our extreme gratitude to ADWEC, RSB, ADNOC, the Environmental Agency, Transco and ADDC.