Torresol Energy, a joint venture between Masdar and SENER, a leading international multidiscipline engineering company, with offices in Abu Dhabi, has secured US$760 million project finance loans for the construction of its twin Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants–Valle 1 and Valle 2–in Andalucía, Spain. The total investment value for the two plants is US$1 billion.
Details of the loan were not disclosed.
Work on the two 50 megawatts (MW) CSP plants began in March 2009 and is the first time that twin thermo solar plants have been built simultaneously. Both plants incorporate energy solutions developed by SENER, including molten salt thermal storage capacity of up to 7.5 hours. This means that the plants will be capable of generating electricity at night and through periods of poor sunlight.
Valle 1 & 2, together with the Gemasolar Central Tower Plant (17MW/110GWh per year), which was project financed in November 2008 and continues to progress construction as expected, represents a total investment by Torresol Energy of $1.4 billion across 3 CSP projects over the past 12 months.
Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, CEO, Masdar, said: "The CSP projects currently under construction in Spain will introduce and test new technologies, which will help promote CSP as an economically competitive and viable alternative to traditional power sources. Through Torresol Energy, we are actively promoting the development and operation of large-scale CSP plants throughout the world and hope to implement additional projects across Southern Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and the Southwest United States".
Torresol Energy says it plans to build at least two CSP plants each year.
Masdar (www.masdar.ae) is Abu Dhabi’s multi-faceted initiative advancing the development, commercialisation and deployment of renewable and alternative energy technologies and solutions. Masdar is driven by the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (ADFEC), a wholly owned company of the government of Abu Dhabi through the Mubadala Development Company.
Last week, Masdar and the European utility E.ON (EOAN.DE) announced an agreement to establish E.ON Masdar Integrated Carbon (EMIC), a joint venture company focused on developing carbon emission reduction projects on the global market.
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