Green Andalucia - Energy from the Sun
Electricity generation with dirty fuel is thought to be one of the causes of climate change so the world is looking for a clean fuel with which to generate electicity. Here in Andalucia there is a clean fuel in abundance, the sun. There are also available dry, open, gently sloping hillsides.
It is good to find that a private company, Solucar, assisted by the European Community, the Junta de Andalucia and others, has recently inaugurated a solar furnace on a site that, by 2013, will provide sufficient electricity to power nearly a quarter of a million homes and that will save over half a million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere.
The first plant is operational now. It has cost 33 million Euros financed by Banco Sabadell. The second phase is under construction.
Both sites can be found by leaving Seville on the autovia for Huelva and after about 20 kms turning right, i.e. north, towards Sanlucar la Mayor. You will pass through the town and soon be looking down on a wide plain. To the north you will see a tower whose tip is glowing fiercely bright. It is of reinforced concrete, 115m high and looks like something out of ‘Lord of the Rings’. It is set to the south of an array of 600 steel solar reflectors called heliostats. These are rectangular dished mirrors and can move to follow the sun, efficiently focusing its energy rays on to a receiver at the top of the tower where a heat exchanger extracts heat and uses it to generate steam. The steam is stored at ground level in tanks and drives turbines to produce electricity.
To the south of the tower is a second array. This time of photoelectric panels, directly converting sunlight to electricity again provided with electric motors that alter the angle and orientation of each panel to maintain its optimum alignment with the sun. These panels of course are independent of the receiver at the top of the tower and probably generate the electricity it needs to manage and control the heliostats and the process of steam generation.
The sites are securely fenced and access is not allowed but a dirt road open to the public leads to a shaded car park adjacent to the main gate where dwells the inevitable security guard.
From a distance it is possible to distinguish the shining pyramid of light rays converging on the receiver although as you get nearer you would be advised not to look at the brightest part of the system. You should however look at the heliostats. You might hear a slight murmur from the electric motors as they adjust the alignment of the mirror to which they are attached but otherwise the plant is pleasantly silent. There is just a sense of clean harmless beneficent power.
The city of Sanlucar la Mayor, ‘Solar City’ has been strongly linked with the symbol of the sun for centuries. The Romans called it Solucar and built a temple there in honour of the sun and now Sanlucar is home to a new connection with the life-giving centre of our solar system. This plant, not far from the visible remains and plants of the old smokestack industries of Huelva with its petrochemical terminal and refineries, is a major step forward in terms of harvesting renewable energy and is the first of its kind to be put into operation in Europe. It is worth seeing if you care about clean energy.