JGC and Abengoa Solar have formed a partnership to own two 50 megawatt Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plants in El Carpio (Córdoba), Spain. Abengoa Solar, who will also operate both facilities, will retain control of the project with a 74% stake. The power plants will be the first commercial CSP plants invested in by any Japanese company.
The two 50 megawatt CSP plants represent a total investment of more than 500 million euros, of which a total of around 350 million euros has been raised through a project finance loan. In August 2010, Abengoa Solar and JGC concluded the finance agreements with four international commercial banks: SMBC, HSBC, Mizuho and BNP Paribas.
The two 50 megawatt CSP plants, which are already under construction by the Abengoa companies Abener and Teyma, are expected to start their commercial operation in early 2012 and will sell power to the grid based on the Spanish feed-in tariff system. The plants will benefit greatly from abundant solar radiation in El Carpio (Cordoba), as an ideal site in Europe. Utilizing parabolic trough technology1, they will produce enough energy to meet the electricity needs of 52,000 households and achieve emissions reductions totaling approximately 63,000 tons of CO2 per year.
Santiago Seage, Abengoa Solar’s CEO, said “This partnership, with the participation of a leading Japanese engineering company and Japanese and other international banks, demonstrates the interest of the international investment community in CSP projects in Spain”.
In turn, Koichi Kawana, JGC’s Executive Vice President, mentioned that “It is our great pleasure to collaborate with Abengoa Solar as a reliable partner with an impressive proven track record in the CSP industry. We believe that CSP will be a key technology for mitigating global warming and we are proud to take part in this environmentally-friendly power generation project. JGC plans to use our extensive project management experience to deepen our expertise and globally expand our presence in the field of solar energy ”.
Note:
1. Parabolic trough technology operation is based on solar tracking and concentration of sunrays onto high-thermal-efficiency receiving pipes positioned along the cylinder focal line. Inside these pipes a heat-transmitting fluid is heated to approximately 400ºC (750ºF) by means of the concentrated sunrays. This fluid is pumped through a series of heat exchangers to produce superheated steam. The heat present in this steam is turned into electrical energy inside a conventional steam turbine.