In March 2007, the first solar thermal plant in Spain was inaugurated. Seville witnessed the startup of one of the almost fifty plants that are currently operating in the country. In these 16 years there have been two clearly differentiated stages in the country, a first until 2014 of constant growth of this type of power plants, both in megawatts generated and in advance and improvement of technology. And another stage of stoppage due to the crisis and the change in policies in the environmental field led to a stoppage that lasts until now; At least the Spanish companies were able to export that experience and with more or less success they continued with the construction, exploitation, advice,... in other countries: Morocco, South Africa, Kuwait, Israel, .. among others have been the destination of these companies that little by little Little have they been being replaced, for now in construction, by Chinese companies. Between this year and 2024, 1,257 MW of solar thermal plants will be commissioned worldwide (many with some hybridization), none in Spain and with less and less participation by Spanish companies (the reason for all this deserves a separate debate). ), but at least some Spanish technicians continue to contribute their experience in foreign companies in the sector.
And in Spain?... little, or very little. The cheapening of photovoltaic technology and some political measures have stagnated this interesting technology in the country; Interesting because its storage capacity endows it with qualities in this sense that none of the current renewables can achieve.
In Spain there are about 50 solar thermal plants with a total generation capacity of almost 3 GW. Most of them are 50 MW plants, limited in their export, but not in their generation; the solar fields of these plants can capture much more energy than that required for their maximum production (at times of the year/day), the turbine/generator sets are limited by software-control, adaptable auxiliary services,... so technically most of These plants with small modifications could export more energy than the current one. And if we could increase the generation power, therefore the energy to be exported, by 10% in all the plants in Spain? around 230 MW more of renewable energy could be supplied with a minimal investment. This is equivalent to almost five 50 MW CSP plants, (A CCP CSP plant has a variable cost depending on its location, its exact configuration, equipment selection and power. On average, a CCP 50 MW CSP plant, the most common power of the plants installed in Spain, is around €4,500,000/MW for plants without thermal storage, and around 6,000,000 for plants capable of storing around 1000 MWh of thermal energy (about 7 hours, at full power). Source Renovetec). The benefit, not only economic, forces a careful study of this possibility that has two problems to overcome:
- Administrative impediment. If the plants are limited to 50 MWh of exported power, it is due to administrative limitation, due to the conditions to be met in the project application. Therefore, it is the central government (with the support of the regional government involved) that should apply an "exception" that allows this increase.
- Technical impediments. The limitations of each plant to increase its power, throughout the process, from the capture of solar energy in the field until it is exported and its distribution in the National Grid.
The benefits:
• Increased generation of renewable energy at almost no cost.
• The improvement of the amortization levels of the plants.
• Compensation of consumption in the "peak hours" of consumption, coinciding with the maximum generation.
• Lower electricity prices.
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