Inflight Magazine of Brussels Airlines

Let the sunshine in

With its glorious weather, Andalucia has long attracted those in need of a bright and beautiful break. But as Neil Eric discovers when he visits Seville’s new solar power plant, the region is experiencing a new form of sun worship

Eighteen kilometres to the west of Seville, two monolithic towers rise dramatically from the arid Andalucian landscape. At their feet, circular fields containing almost 2,000 heliostat mirrors focus sunlight towards the towers’ summits, where the intense energy creates steam to drive turbines and produce electricity. The PS10 and PS20 are the world’s first commercial concentrated solar thermal power (CSP) plants, and symbolic altars for a new era of sun worship.

Developed by Abengoa Solar, the solar energy division of Seville-based mega-corporation Abengoa, these ‘power towers’ are part of the Solúcar Platform, which functions as a test-bed for a variety of solar technologies. The project will generate 300 megawatts (MW) by 2013 – enough to supply 153,000 households, and curb the emission of CO2 by 185,000 tons per year.

“This is the start of a new era of commercial power plants connected to the grid,” declares Luis Crespo, secretary-general at Protermo Solar, the Spanish solar thermal industry association. Andris Piebalgs, European commissioner for energy, agrees, saying: “The Solúcar project represents a real breakthrough. It has made available to Europe a new portfolio of possibilities to combat climate change and increase energy security, while straightening the competitiveness of the European industrial sector.”

Which is good news, because although it currently represents less than 0.5% of generation in the $1.3trn (€946bn) global electricity market, solar energy has enormous potential.

The world’s annual electricity demand is some 16 terawatts (TW) – and is expected to grow to 20TW by 2020 – but the amount of sunlight hitting the Earth at any given time is equivalent to around 120,000 kilowatts (KW), which is theoretically enough to sate our electricity needs in an hour.

Catching some rays

In broad terms, there are two main methods of producing power from the sun. The first, Photovoltaics (PV), uses solar panels with semiconductors such as silicon to convert sunlight directly into electricity, and can be deployed in field-based arrays or integrated with the built environment. The aforementioned concentrated solar thermal power (CSP), meanwhile, employs mirrors to intensify the sun’s rays and heat fluids to produce steam and drive turbines. Another technology that’s key is in roof-based solar thermal collectors, which absorb rays in containers filled with fluid or air to provide heating, hot water and air conditioning.

The European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) states that PV could supply up to 12% of the EU’s electricity needs – up from less than 1% – if more favourable conditions were established by policy makers, regulators and the energy sector. Total global capacity stood at 15 gigawatts (GW) in 2008, and the EPIA predicted a further 5.5GW would come on-line in 2009. As for CSP, which today has an installed capacity of around 700MW, a recent report by Greenpeace International, The European Solar Thermal Electricity Association and the International Energy Agency predicted that the technology could supply 25% of the world’s energy needs by 2050. Grid parity – the point where solar electricity rivals or becomes cheaper than conventional sources – is rapidly approaching in some parts of the world, and will be accelerated by dwindling oil reserves and increasing attention paid to the environmental and financial cost of CO2.

Teething trouble

For the Spanish solar power industry these are exciting, albeit turbulent, times. On the PV front, for example, there’s no glossing over the fact that the country is suffering. In 2007, an overly beneficent feed-in tariff resulted in the frenzied installation of 3GW of PV – half the world’s new solar-power capacity in 2008. An out-of-control market soared to an Icarus-style burnout, and the government’s financial resources promptly ran dry. The tariff was recently capped at a meagre 500MW, leading to the first ever instance of PV oversupply.

Robert Feldmann, solar energy expert at Deloitte & Touche, predicts that the Spanish PV “goldrush” will disrupt the global market for 18 months, saying: “It’s a case of how, as a government, you can do everything wrong.” As a result, PV prices plummeted 40% in the last six months of 2009, hitting high-cost manufacturers hard (although the affair has at least offered a vivid illustration of how rapid solar power’s journey from commission to installation can be). But Manuel Blanco, secretary-general of the Spanish National Renewable Energy Centre (CENER), believes that lessons have been learned, and the government has opted for a more measured tack for future development. “I am confident that if there are problems, they’ll be solved,” he says. “The main thing is that this is an industry that is very much tested, and it is clear that it is in the interest of the country to promote these technologies.”

Things are different in the CSP arena. Spain is already recognised as a world-leader in the development and implementation of the technology, and is poised to overtake the US as the leader in terms of installed capacity, anticipating 2,300MW by 2013. And the industry publication CSP Today recently reported that 78% of all CSP projects under construction are located in Spain. “The Spanish solar thermal industry is second to none,” says Blanco. “The key players in this field have been involved in research and development for a long time – it’s not just something that is fashionable.”

Sun city

If Spain’s CSP ambitions have a beating heart, it’s Seville. First, there’s Abengoa’s industrial and scientific heft, and its trail-blazing Solúcar platform. “If you asked 10 people in the CSP industry, I’m sure all of them will tell you that we are global leaders,” says the company’s strategy director, Eduard Soler. Then there’s the healthy solar components manufacturing sector, featuring companies like Captación Solar (heliostats and parabolic trough collectors) and Eucomsa (metallic structures for collectors and heliostats). But perhaps most influential of all is Seville University’s School of Engineering: a world-renowned hub of CSP hearts and minds, responsible for ensuring that virtually every planned CSP project in the world will have some Andalucian input. “Andalucia has traditionally had little industrial development, and CSP is perhaps the biggest success in the region’s history, because of the knowledge and private initiatives,” explains professor Manuel Silva. “It is becoming very important.”

The excitement isn’t confined to large-scale utility plants, either: a new Spanish building code makes it mandatory to install solar thermal systems for new public and private buildings’ hot water supplies. Joakim Byström, CEO of Absolicon, a Swedish company that has developed a dual solar thermal and PV unit designed for large buildings, is keen to cash in, and has earmarked Seville as the ideal point of entry. “I was in Seville a few years ago, and I looked out over the rooftops and couldn’t see a single solar thermal installation,” he says. “But in the future, every new building will be equipped with solar energy – that’s a big change.”

So while Spain’s solar future may be in the throes of uncertainty and potentiality, there are plenty of reasons to believe it will be bright. “It’s only 50 years since [solar technology] first came out of the lab, and look at how the costs have come down since then – it’s not going to stop,” says Michael Liebreich, chairman and chief executive of Bloomberg New Energy Finance. “This is heavy engineering, and there’s lots of capital formation that has to happen – but the bottom line is, it’s coming!”

FR Que le soleil brille

Grâce à son climat clément, l’Andalousie attire depuis toujours les voyageurs en quête d’un agréable break ensoleillé. Mais comme l’a découvert Neil Eric lors de sa visite à la nouvelle centrale d’énergie solaire de Séville, la région est en train d’expérimenter une nouvelle forme de culte de l’astre radieux

À 18 kilomètres à l’ouest de Séville, vous trouverez les premières centrales solaires commerciales à concentration du monde (CSP). Développées par Abengoa Solar, ces ‘tours solaires’ font partie d’une Plateforme Solúcar, qui devrait produire 300 mégawatts (MW) d’ici 2013 – une quantité suffisante pour alimenter logements et infléchir les émissions de CO2 de tonnes par an.

Il existe deux méthodes principales pour capter l’énergie du soleil : l’énergie photovoltaïque (PV), qui utilise des panneaux solaires pour convertir directement le rayonnement du soleil en électricité ; et les centrales solaires thermodynamiques, qui concentrent les rayons du soleil à l’aide de miroirs afin de chauffer un fluide pour produire de la vapeur et faire tourner des turbines. Ces deux technologies ont un énorme potentiel afin de répondre globalement aux besoins énergétiques. Dans certaines parties du monde, les demandes de raccords des installations solaires au réseau électrique sont en rapide augmentation : nous nous dirigeons vers le point où l’électricité solaire rivalise ou devient moins chère que les sources conventionnelles.

C’est une période passionnante pour l’industrie espagnole de production d’énergie solaire, mais quelques difficultés ont surgi suite à un envol enthousiaste de l’énergie voltaïque en 2007. Résultat : une surproduction de masse des panneaux et des chutes de prix de 40% au cours des six premiers mois de 2009. Dans l’arène des CSP toutefois, l’Espagne est un leader mondial, exploitant 78% de tous les projets de CSP – et Séville est au centre de cette croissance. Outre cette plateforme d’avant-garde Solúcar, se développe un secteur de production de composants, tandis que l’École d’ingénieurs de l’Université de Séville se positionne comme un hub de recherche et d’innovation en la matière. Et comme la nouvelle législation en Espagne dans la construction, impose l’installation de systèmes thermiques solaires pour l’approvisionnement en eau chaude des nouveaux bâtiments publics et privés, on peut à raison espérer que le futur énergétique de cette région sera brillant.

NL Laat de zon maar schijnen

Met haar heerlijk weer trekt Andalusië sinds lang diegenen aan die nood hebben aan een stralende en mooie vakantie. Maar zoals Neil Eric ontdekt wanneer hij de nieuwe krachtcentrale op zonne-energie van Sevilla bezoekt, kent de regio een nieuwe vorm van zonneaanbidding

Achttien kilometer ten westen van Sevilla vind je ‘s werelds eerste commerciële krachtcentrales die aangedreven worden op geconcentreerde zonnewarmte. Deze ‘krachttorens’, die ontworpen zijn door Abengoa Solar, maken deel uit van het Solúcar platform, dat tegen 2 megawatt (MW) zal produceren – voldoende om 153.000 huishoudens te bevoorraden en de CO2 uitstoot in te tomen tot 185.000 ton per jaar.

Er zijn twee hoofdmethodes om zonne-energie op te wekken: fotovoltaïsche zonnepanelen, die zonlicht onmiddellijk omzetten in elektriciteit en thermische zonne-energie, waarbij gebruik gemaakt wordt van spiegels om de stralen en de hittevloeistoffen te versterken om stoom te produceren en turbines aan te drijven. Beide technologieën hebben een enorm potentieel om te beantwoorden aan de universele energienoden en netwerkgelijkheid – het moment waarop zonne-elektriciteit de conventionele bronnen naar de kroon steekt, of zelfs goedkoper wordt – komt in sommige delen van de wereld snel dichterbij.

Het zijn spannende tijden voor de Spaanse zonnekrachtindustrie, maar ze hebben kinderziekten gekend: een overenthousiaste gebruikmaking van fotovoltaïsche panelen in 2007 leidde tot het allereerste geval van overbevoorrading, en de prijzen van fotovoltaïsche panelen kelderden met 40% tijdens de laatste 6 maanden van 2009. In de arena van de thermische zonne-energie echter is Spanje wereldleider en in het trotse bezit van 78% van alle thermische zonne-energieprojecten – en Sevilla staat hierin centraal. Bovenop het Solúcar platform dat het pad effende, is er een gezonde sector die onderdelen bouwt, terwijl de School of Engineering van de universiteit van Sevilla een wereldgerenommeerd centrum is met thermische zonne-energiegezinden. En met de komst van de nieuwe Spaanse bouwvoorschriften, die het verplicht maken om zonnewarmtesystemen te installeren voor de warmwatervoorzieningen in openbare en private gebouwen, zijn er meer dan redenen genoeg om aan te nemen dat de toekomst van deze regio op het gebied van zonne-energie er rooskleurig uitziet.

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