Alvarado I
Encyclopedia
Alvarado I is a large solar thermal
power station in Alvarado, in Extremadura
, Spain
. Construction on the plant commenced in December 2007 and was completed in July 2009, when commercial operations began. With an installed capacity of , it is one of the largest solar thermal power stations in the world.
The facility is built on a 1 square kilometre site with a solar resource of , producing an estimated of electricity per year (an average power of 12 MW). The plant uses parabolic trough
technology, and is made up of 768 solar thermal collector
s, with an output temperature of 393 °C (739 °F), transferred with Biphenyl
and Diphenyl oxide heat transfer agents.
A second facility, Alvarado II, is currently on the proposal stage. It is planned to be constructed in the same area as Alvarado I.
Solar thermal energy
Solar thermal energy is a technology for harnessing solar energy for thermal energy . Solar thermal collectors are classified by the United States Energy Information Administration as low-, medium-, or high-temperature collectors. Low-temperature collectors are flat plates generally used to heat...
power station in Alvarado, in Extremadura
Extremadura
Extremadura is an autonomous community of western Spain whose capital city is Mérida. Its component provinces are Cáceres and Badajoz. It is bordered by Portugal to the west...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. Construction on the plant commenced in December 2007 and was completed in July 2009, when commercial operations began. With an installed capacity of , it is one of the largest solar thermal power stations in the world.
The facility is built on a 1 square kilometre site with a solar resource of , producing an estimated of electricity per year (an average power of 12 MW). The plant uses parabolic trough
Parabolic trough
A parabolic trough is a type of solar thermal energy collector. It is constructed as a long parabolic mirror with a Dewar tube running its length at the focal point. Sunlight is reflected by the mirror and concentrated on the Dewar tube...
technology, and is made up of 768 solar thermal collector
Solar thermal collector
A solar thermal collector is a solar collector designed to collect heat by absorbing sunlight. The term is applied to solar hot water panels, but may also be used to denote more complex installations such as solar parabolic, solar trough and solar towers or simpler installations such as solar air...
s, with an output temperature of 393 °C (739 °F), transferred with Biphenyl
Biphenyl
Biphenyl is an organic compound that forms colorless crystals. It has a distinctively pleasant smell. Biphenyl is an aromatic hydrocarbon with a molecular formula 2...
and Diphenyl oxide heat transfer agents.
A second facility, Alvarado II, is currently on the proposal stage. It is planned to be constructed in the same area as Alvarado I.