ACCIONA opens its second concentrated solar power (CSP) plant in the Spanish region of Extremadura, an investment of 237 million euros

ACCIONA already has four plants in operation and two under construction in this technology, totaling 314 MW and an investment of around 1.4 billion euros

At a ceremony attended by the President of the Regional Government of Extremadura, Guillermo Fernández Vara, ACCIONA today opened its CSP plant at Majadas de Tiétar (Cáceres), in which it has invested 237 million euros. The 50 MW capacity facility will produce clean energy equivalent to the consumption of 30,000 homes in the region, and has created 31 jobs in the plant and an average of over 350 in the construction phase. ACCIONA was represented by the President of its Energy Division Carmen Becerril and Managing Director Rafael Mateo.

ACCIONA now has four solar thermal plants in operation with a capacity of 214 MW, making it a world reference company in the development of this technology. One of them is located in the USA, the 64 MW Nevada Solar One in the state of Nevada - grid connected in 2007 - plus another three 50 MW plants in Spain: Alvarado (Badajoz, 2009), Majadas (Cáceres, 2010) and Palma del Río II (Córdoba, 2010).

Another two plants are currently under construction in Spain: Palma del Río I (Córdoba), which will come on stream this summer, and Orellana (Badajoz), which will be operational at the end of 2012. They will total 314 MW and represent an overall investment of around 1.4 billion euros.

During the ceremony ACCIONA President Carmen Becerril pointed out "the need to focus efforts on developing renewable energy sources that reduce our energy dependence, make us less vulnerable to variations in the oil price, help to reduce emissions, and allow us to consolidate a sector for the future based on inexhaustible and increasingly efficient energy sources".

The Majadas plant

Like the others developed by ACCIONA, the Majadas solar thermal plant is based on parabolic trough technology, in allusion to the shape of the mirrors, installed in rows, that concentrate the sun's rays onto a fluid that is heated to around 400 degrees centrigrade. This energy is then used to produce steam and drive a conventional turbine which, connected to a generator, produces electricity.

The plant covers a large surface area to the north of the municipality of Majadas. On the 121 hectares covered by its solar field (equivalent to 189 soccer pitches) 800 solar collectors have been installed with a total of 192,000 parabolic trough mirrors. The construction of the solar field was carried out by ACCIONA Infrastructures.