ACCIONA starts work on its third concentrating solar power plant in Spain, representing an investment of 237 million euros

Located in Majadas de Tiétar (Cáceres province, southwest Spain), this 50 megawatt-capacity facility will produce clean energy equivalent to the electricity consumption of around 30,000 homes.

The plant will enter service in the second half of 2010 and will create between 300 and 400 jobs in the construction phase.

By the end of 2010 ACCIONA plans to have five concentrating solar power plants in operation -four in Spain and one in the USA (in service since 2007)- accounting for an overall investment of around 1.25 billion euros.

ACCIONA Energy has started construction work on a 50 MW concentrated solar power (CSP) plant at Majadas de Tiétar (Cáceres), representing an investment of 237 million euros. The facility, planned to enter service in summer 2010, will use solar trough technology to produce clean electricity equivalent to the consumption of 30,000 homes.

It is the third CSP plant built by ACCIONA in Spain, after Alvarado I (Badajoz), which will enter service this summer, and Palma del Rio II (Córdoba), which will be completed by the spring of 2010. All these facilities have a capacity of 50 MW and use the same technology applied by ACCIONA in its "Nevada Solar One" plant (64 MW), which has been operational since June 2007 in the US State of the same name.

In June 2009 ACCIONA expects to start construction work on its fourth CSP plant (Palma del Río I). This facility will also have a capacity of 50 MW and its entry into service is planned for the end of 2010. The company will thus achieve its objective of 200 MW of solar thermal power capacity installed in Spain by the end of 2010, making a very strong contribution to reaching the development objective for this technology under the national Renewables Plan: 500 MW by 2010. These four plants, together with "Nevada Solar One", account for an overall investment of around 1.25 billion euros.

ACCIONA is currently going through administrative procedures for a fifth CSP plant  -Alvarado II, again with a capacity of 50 MW -, which will be built after the others.

76 kilometers of solar trough collectors

The Majadas facility, like the others developed by ACCIONA in Spain, is based on solar trough collector technology, which the company has satisfactorily tested in its "Nevada Solar One" plant, the biggest built in the world in the last 18 years.

The Majadas plant will have a solar field of 135 hectares (equivalent to 189 football pitches). Eight hundred solar collectors will be installed on the site, covering a total of 48 linear miles, equipped with a total of 192,000 mirrors. These mirrors concentrate the sun's rays onto collectors located in its focal line. Fluid runs through a circuit that heats it up to temperatures above 400 degrees. This fluid is used to produce water vapor and drive a conventional turbine that, connected to a generator, produces electricity.

The project means a major impact on the economic development of the area where it is located. It will create around 350 jobs in the construction phase and a further 31 in the operational phase, plus a large number of indirect and ancillary jobs in the area, located in the northern part of Cáceres province.

In-house technology

The production of the plant will avoid the emission of 97,000 tonnes of CO2 from coal-fired power stations. This will have a cleansing effect on the atmosphere equivalent to the photosynthesis of 5 million trees.

ACCIONA uses its own technology in the design, construction, operation and maintenance of this type of plant. A technology that has demonstrated its capability and efficiency in Nevada Solar One, where forecast production was exceeded by 9% last year to reach 136 million kilowatt-hours.

ACCIONA ENERGY'S concentrating solar power plants

Name	Site	Power (MV)	Status	Start works	Come into service
Total		314
Nevada Solar One	Nevada	64	Operational	February 2006	June 2007
Alvarado I	Extremadura	50	Construction	February 2008	Summer 2009
Palma del Río II	Andalucía	50	Construction	Octuber 2008	Spring 2010
Majadas	Extremadura	50	Construction	March 2009	Summer 2010
Palma del Río I	Andalucía	50	Under development	June 2009 (*)	Autum 2010
Alvarado II	Extremadura	50	Development

(*) Forecast