GEMASOLAR
GEMASOLAR is the flagship project of Torresol Energy to be developed with central tower and heliostat technology. The plant incorporates significant technological innovations, among which is the solar receiver system, but there is also a molten-salt heat storage system that is capable of reaching temperatures exceeding 500ºC.
This is the first commercial plant in the world to apply this type of technology, with its relevance lying in this singular method, which is opening the way forward for a new thermosolar electricity generation technology. GEMASOLAR will be capable of providing 25,000 households with safe, clean energy and also reduce CO2 emissions by over 30,000 tons per year.
The GEMASOLAR plant started the construction in November 2008 in Fuentes de Andalucía, Seville (Spain). It is an installation that will have 2,600 heliostats occupying 185 hectares and, once in operation, will have 17 MW of generating power. The electricity generated by GEMASOLAR of approximately 110 GWh/year shall be sent over a high-voltage line to the Villanueva del Rey (Andalusia, Spain) substation, where it shall be injected into the grid to provide electricity for 25,000 homes.
Most thermosolar plants currently under development lack energy storage and can only operate during hours of sunlight. For the first time, GEMASOLAR has an innovating high-temperature molten-salt heat storage system that allows the normal operating period of these plants to be extended. The heat collected by the salt is used to produce steam and thus generate electricity. At the same time, the surplus heat, which is accumulated during the hours of sunlight, is stored in the hot tank. This enables electricity generation to continue, even in darkness when there is no sunlight. Because of this system, the GEMASOLAR autonomy will be some 15 hours, during which the plant can continue to generate power when there is no sunlight.
The extension of plant operating time during the absence of sunlight, together with enhanced efficiency in the use of the sun's heat means that the GEMASOLAR production is three times that attained by other technologies in installations having the same power.
