A Pair of Solar Thermal Plants for Torresol Energy

Recently, Torresol Energy began work on the construction of the two thermosolar plants located in Cadiz, in the town of San José del Valle. Each one of these plants will have an installed capacity of 50 MW, and both will use SENERtrough collectors, patented by SENER. VALLE 1 and VALLE 2 will summate a solar field of 510,120 m2 of mirrors on a surface area of 460 hectares (equivalent to 460 football pitches).

The pair of plants are projected on completion to produce up to 175 GWh/year. The thermal storage systems allow each plant will be able to continue to produce electricity for 7 hours without sunshine. These thermosolar plants will avoid the annual emission of 90,000 tonnes of CO2, around 45,000 tonnes each, and may supply a population of 40,000 people per plant.

Torresol Energy

The two new plants, VALLE 1 and VALLE 2, are added to the already started GEMASOLAR project, whose construction is ongoing in Fuentes de Andalucía, Seville (Spain), and will be completed at the beginning of 2011. SENER will be the technology provider in the consortium it has formed with AMSA, including the SENERtrough collector system and the molten salt thermal storage system, as well as the design of the details and the commissioning of VALLE 1 and VALLE 2. The construction work will provide employment for more than 1,000 people. Once operational, each plant will have a workforce of 50.