Solar Millennium - Projects

Projects

The first large-scale power plant project by Solar Millennium is the Andasol complex, which consists of three immediately adjacent, essentially identical parabolic trough power plants, Andasol 1 to 3 in southern Spain. In June 2006 the construction of Andasol 1 on the plateau of Guadix in Andalusia was initiated. Andasol 1 ran from October 2008 in test mode and went to the grid in December 2008. It was officially inaugurated not until July 2009 as previous output was not under completely approved regular operation. A virtually identical further parabolic trough power plant "Andasol 2" was constructed right next to Andasol 1 on the plateau of Guadix. The construction started in February 2007, the power plant is connected to the grid since 2009. Even before completion of the plant, the construction of "Andasol 3" began, which will begin operation in summer 2011. After the commissioning of the third power plant, parabolic trough plants Andasol 1 to 3, each with a collector surface area of over 500.000 square meters will provide solar power for 500.000 people. Andasol is the first parabolic trough power plant in Europe and to date the largest solar power plant in the world. Meanwhile, Solar Millennium has sold all of its own shares in Andasol 1 and Andasol 2 to other consortia. Andasol 3 is financed jointly by Solar Millennium, Stadtwerke München GmbH, RWE Innogy, RheinEnergie and Ferrostaal.

In May 2008, Solar Millennium won the Energy Globe Award, for the initiation and development of Europe's first parabolic trough power plants, the Spanish Andasol power plants. The jury also selected the Andasol projects as the winning national project for Spain. With the power plants Ibersol and Arenales - 50 MW capacity each - Solar Millennium AG is pursuing further projects in Spain. In December 2008, the construction of a parabolic trough solar field in Egypt was initiated. This solar field is part of the planned hybrid power plant south of Cairo, which had been advertised by the Egyptian government and is supposed to use both solar thermal energy and natural gas. In December 2010, as part of the commissioning of the entire solar field the collectors were aligned with the sun for the first time and the heat energy was fed into the heat exchanger in the power block. Electricity production and feeding to Egyptian power grid will begin in early 2011, as soon as the conventional power plant part with the turbine is put into operation.

In autumn 2010, the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama approved the plan to build a large scale solar power plant in California, the Blythe Solar Power Project. Solar Millennium will realize four solar power plants with a total capacity of 1,000 megawatts, the largest solar energy facility in the world. The project is located in the Sonoran desert near Blythe. Solar Millennium is willing to introduce further investors and government funding in the financing. The power generated is sufficient to supply 300,000-750,000 households with electricity. On 18 April 2011, US Secretary of Energy, Dr. Steven Chu, offered the Solar Millennium a conditional commitment for a US$2.1 billion loan guarantee. On June 18 government and corporate leaders lifted shovels of dirt to toast the Blythe Solar Power Project in the California desert, 225 miles east of Los Angeles.