Arab League delegation visits ACCIONA´s solar thermal/CSP facility in Alvarado (Badajoz, Spain)

A high-level delegation from the League of Arab States (also referred to as the Arab League) today visited ACCIONA's solar thermal/CSP facility in Alvarado (Badajoz), the first of its kind in the Spanish region of Extremadura.

The Delegation, led by Mrs. Jamila Matar, plenipotentiary minister of the Arab League, and made up of twelve experts from Egypt, Syria, Tunisia, Morocco, Qatar, Sudan, Oman and Kuwait and the League itself, is interested in learning more about the characteristics and potential of this kind of renewables energy generation plants, with a view to introducing similar infrastructures in North Africa and the Middle East.

The visit took place under the auspices of the Spain's solar thermal industry association, Asociación Española de la Industria Solar Termoeléctrica (Protermosolar), in collaboration with the Andalusian regional renewables research centre, Centro Tecnológico Avanzado de Energías Renovables de Andalucía (CTAER).

The Arab League representatives showed considerable interest in the details of the workings of the 50 MW Alvarado solar thermal/CSP facility, which came into operation in 2009. The plant features parabolic cylinders which ACCIIONA developed successfully at its 64 MW Nevada solar thermal/CSP plant in the US, which has been operating since 2007.

In 2010, ACCIONA will be commissioning two other parabolic-cylinder solar thermal/CSP facilities in Spain -Majadas, in Caceres, and Palma del Río II, in Cordoba-, both with a capacity of 50 MW, bringing the year to a close with 214 MW in operation.

The Company is building another plant in Cordoba -Palma del Río I- and has obtained planning permission for and has registered in Spain's Pre-allocation Register another plant in Orellana (Badajoz), both with a capacity similar to the solar thermal plants already developed by ACCIONA in Spain.