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General

History of Abengoa Solar

Origins

Abengoa began its involvement in the development of solar technologies in 1984 with the construction of the Solar Almeria Platform in Spain. The company supplied heliostats and glass facets and worked on the construction of the Cesa Tower. Later, in 1987, Abengoa supplied the facets for the heliostat field of the Weizmann Institute in Israel.
This initial work was undertaken by the Abengoa company, Inabensa as part of its construction department.
In the 1990's, a new department was created devoted to solar R&D projects. In 1983, Abengoa Solar IST (then Industrial Solar Technology) was founded by Ken May with the purpose of developing trough technology that was economically feasible for commercial and industrial applications.

Cesa Tower	Weizmann Institute in Israel

The 90s: Concetrated Solar Power and Photovoltaic R&D Projects

In 1993, Abengoa built Toledo PV, a 1MW turn-key photovoltaic plant, that is owned by Union Fenosa, Endesa and RWE. The project was built with a subsidy from the European Union.

Photovoltaic Panels of Toledo PV	Aerial View of Toledo PV

In 1994, several tower R&D projects were initiated. These projects were partially subsidized by the European Union under Framework Programs IV, V and V. R&D focused on different types of receivers. One of the projects, Solgas, focused on steam generation while the other, Colon Star, focused on electricity generation. Between 1995 and 2000, several R&D projects involving troughs began under by the EU Framework Program s IV and V. The following are highlights of the late 90's R&D projects.

• The Theseus Project: The Theseus Project studied the feasibility of a parabolic trough plant in Greece.

• Eurotrough: Abengoa Solar was one of the leaders in developing the Eurotrough. The purpose of this project was to develop a parabolic trough with improved optical efficiency, and better manufacturing and assembly processes compared to existing designs.

• DISS: A research project investigating the direct generation of steam in the trough receiver. The research goal was a major technical advance leading to a 30% increase in the efficiency of parabolic trough electricity generation.

In the 1990's Abengoa Solar also collaborated on dish-Stirling projects involving the production of the Eurodish and Envirodish.

Abengoa Solar worked on concentrated photovoltaic projects. The outcome was the low-concentration dishes (Sevilla PV) now installed at the Sanlucar Solar Platform.

During this time, Abengoa Solar IST worked with some of the world's best labs and institutions to improve and install solar trough systems for industrial and commercial applications.

2004 to Present: Transition from R&D to Commercial Plant Construction

Based on the economic and technical foundation provided by investments in R&D, Abengoa Solar has transitioned into a pioneer in the construction of commercial CSP and PV plants.

In 2007, Abengoa Solar inaugurated the world's first commercial solar tower plant, the 11 MW, PS10, and the world's largest low-concentration PV plant ( Sevilla PV, 1.2 MW). These two plants are part of the Sanlucar Platform, which when complete in 2013 will have a total capacity of 300 MW. Such output can supply the needs of 18,000 households in Seville, while eliminating 600,000 tons of CO2 per year. Besides the Sanlucar Platform, Abengoa Solar is building additional plants in Spain, the USA, Algeria and Morocco.

Abengoa Solar New Technologies (NT) is the R&D company of Abengoa Solar in Spain. Abengoa Solar NT collaborates with institutions such as NREL, Ciemat and Fraunhofer, as well as research universities to develop CSP and PV technology. In addition, Abengoa Solar NT performs internally-funded R&D to develop new proprietary knowledge aimed at improving performance and reducing the cost of solar technology.

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