|
Solar Power developments in Spain and Portugal
A month’s summer holiday spent in Spain and Portugal gave some opportunity to observe the uptake of solar power for homes in the Iberian Peninsula.
On day one, driving from Madrid Airport to Segovia, it was really great to see some new build apartments including solar panels on the upper levels– they looked quite neat, doubling as a cover to the decks.
Later in the month, we drove from the Algarve in Portugal towards Seville. we noticed many of the highway signs and some of the lights were solar powered. From the highway, we could see a new suburb being built at San Juan de Puerto. Many of the homes were being fitted out for solar water heating.
We drove on to visit friends at Sanlucar la Mayor. I had given advance notice that I was very keen to see the solar thermal collector tower there. Our friends kept very quiet about it except to say they had a surprise. The surprise was that their house was literally across the field from what they call the “Eye of God”.
While excellent pictures and video of this striking structure have been available on the BBC News website, there is nothing like seeing something with your own eyes. And my view was quite a different one. The late afternoon view from my friends’ home looked more like a picture from the Kennedy Space Centre, with a rocket ready for launching.
The photo below actually shows two towers. The closest is the first (and so far the only one in production) of the five such towers that will be erected in this locality. The grey-looking tower behind it is the second tower to be built and its construction is nearing completion. I understand the array of mirrors for focusing the sunlight on the top of the second tower is still to be erected.
Credit: Jack Callon
I remarked to our friends that it must be unusual to have such a big power plant right next to their home and to have really no impact on their lives in terms of noise or pollution. What surprised me was to hear them say that the land area the plant occupies is lit up at night (maybe for security or maintenance purposes – it wasn't clear). Such bright lights in a rural setting are seen as a nuisance by our friends.
It is intended that all the towers, when completed, will provide electric power for Seville and adjacent areas. Because each tower is designed to collect thermal energy – collecting the sun’s rays to heat water which turns to steam and thus powers turbines – each plant can operate 24 hours a day, given the temperature that the water reaches during daylight hours. (The afternoon air temperature while we were there in early August was about 50 degrees centigrade.)
Back in Portugal, we learnt that much of the country’s power is, in fact, imported from Spain. Not necessarily because of this, however, but the cost of electricity in Portugal is apparently high. For that reason, it was surprising not to see greater uptake of solar energy to generate electricity. What was evident was a slow increase in the number of homes (mostly large houses from my observations) installing solar water heating systems
Credit: Jack Callon
Commercial solar power stations are being developed in Portugal. The biggest (the biggest in the world is one claim) is at Serpa in Atlantejo province, 200 kilometers south of Lisbon. The 60 hectare (150 acre) site is designed to produce 11 mega-watts, sufficient energy to power 8,000 homes. It has been operating since January 2007. “The plant uses PowerLight's PowerTracker system to follow the sun's daily path across the sky and generate more electricity than conventional fixed-mounted systems”, according to one report.
Credit: Business Wire
An aerial photograph of 52,000 photovoltaic modules that began generating
electricity at one of the world's largest solar power plants in Portugal earlier
this year.
Jack Callon
3 September 2007 |
