T-Solar inaugurates Spain’s first thin film Solar plant

T-Solar, a Spanish company whose main investors are the Isolux Group and the regional savings bank Caixanova, opened yesterday a state-of-the-art plant in Orense (Galicia, Northwestern Spain).

T-Solar has invested so far more than 80 million euros ($99.5 million) in this modern plant, that will employ 190 workers and will have a expected turnover in 2009 exceeding 100 million euros.

The factory, with an initial production capacity of 40 MW, produces thin-film amorphous Silicon (a-Si) photovoltaic modules. The production plant is based on the SunFab Thin Film line from Applied Materials  (California). It  will churn out 20 modules an hour in sizes from 1.1m x 1.3m to 2.2m x 2.6m (5.72 square meters or 61.6 square feet).

The nanomanufacturing technology used in the plant reduces the cost of utility-scale PV installations by more than 25%, through automation and improvements in cabling and installation.  The panels need less silicon than standard ones. Plus, they are better suited to building integration because their sizes are adapted to current architectural standards.

T-Solar has pursued a strategy of vertical integration.  In addition to investing in next-generation manufacturing, T-Solar installs and operates its own PV power generation plants.  All the production from the plant will go to 16 solar projects that T-Solar is developing in different Spanish provinces. In a second phase to begin in a  year and a half, new machinery will be added to the existing equipment to improve the performance of each panel. Another layer of crystalline material will be added to the panels, in order to achieve an annual production of 65 MW.  

T-Solar has developed a total of 28 photovoltaic plants to-date, with an installed capacity of 143 MW. Next Wednesday, it will inaugurate  a huge 34 MW solar farm in Arnedo (La Rioja, Spain).

The world´s largest PV solar plant open in Southern Spain

With an installed peak power of 23 MW (updated), the solar park at Jumilla, Murcia (Southeastern Spain) is the world’s current highest capacity PV plant and the most efficient to-date.

It took a team of 400 people 11 months to build the Jumilla plant, where 120,000 solar panels are grouped into 200 separate photovoltaic arrays -owned by different investors- to convert light from the sun into electricity. It’s expected to generate an estimated annual income of $28 million (€19 million) and a reduction in CO2 emissions of 42,000 tons a year.

The plant covers an area of 100 hectares in La Hoya de Vicentes, Jumilla, (see picture) where the local Mayor says 300 days of sun a year are guaranteed. Its total annual production will be the equivalent of the energy used by 20,000 homes.

The project developer was Luzentia Group. Luzentia awarded the construction of the park to Elecnor, a company with a solid background in engineering and the solar industry. The solar arm of Elecnor, Atersa, worked as the systems integrator, with solar panels coming from different firms, due to the size of the project. Besides Atersa, the other providers were Solon, Yingli, Suntech and Ningbo.

Powerlight (Sunpower Corp.) provides its patented single-axis solar trackers to improve the system´s performance.

Different measures were taken following the recommendations from a local association, Juncellus, to ensure high environmental criteria in the construction of the plant. They included replanting an area of almost 5.4 thousand square yards around the plant, water deposits for fires, drinking troughs for birds and other such details.

According to the figures given by the Spanish Minister of Industry at its inauguration earlier this month, renewable energy currently accounts for around 7% of the total primary energy produced in the country, and will reach 10% in 2010 if biomass production is added onto the energy produced by solar and wind farms. Spain will be able to reach the European Union’s target of a 20% share by 2020, he said.

BP Solar to Build the Largest Module Assembly Factory in Europe in Puertollano

After announcing a huge expansion of its cell plant at its European manufacturing headquarters in Tres Cantos (Madrid) last March, BP Solar will invest $145 million to build in Puertollano (Castilla La Mancha) the largest module assembly factory in the Old Continent.

The new plant will use state-of-the-art technology to manufacture photovoltaic solar modules. The production capacity, in phase one, would be up to 300 MW per year, which means enough energy to meet the needs of between 150,000 and 200,000 homes and a saving of approximately 420,000 tons in CO2 emissions per year. A further possibility, once the phase one is in production, is the implementation of a second phase expansion of the plant to reach production capacity of up to 500 MW.  

The BP Solar factory in Puertollano is expected to generate 500-600 direct new jobs, with an eventual increase of 400 additional jobs in the second phase. The opening of the factory will set a benchmark in technological development in the field of the large-scale production of photovoltaic modules worldwide.  

An example of cooperation

Alfredo Barrios, chairman of BP Group in Spain said regarding this plant: “This project has been made possible thanks to the support from the central, regional and local governments. These institutions have worked, alongside BP Solar, to help deliver a project that will provide numerous social benefits through job creation and also the development of a sustainable environment.”

Certainly, local authorities have bet hard on Solar Energy, with R+D initiatives such as the ISFOC or Institute of Concentration Photovoltaics Systems  (see here our recent post on the topic) and their efforts seem to be paying off.

This is the only the latest of a string of announcements that confirm the attractiveness of the region and city (Puertollano) for all sorts of ventures related to solar power (besides standard PV and CPV, there are also projects in solar thermal power and production of silicon wafers and ingots). 

About BP Solar:

BP Solar produces solar cells and PV modules using monocrystalline and polycrystalline technology. BP Solar has production plants in the United States, Spain, India, Australia and China. It has a workforce of approximately 2,200 all over the world, of which 550 are currently employed in Spain.  

 

Solar energy comes to market

Boqueria Market in Barcelona
Originally uploaded by Icekahlua

The popular Carmel market in Barcelona now has photovoltaic energy panels financed by citizens. “At the market everyone´s fighting against climate change” is an initiative of Markets of Barcelona and the Terra Foundation.

The initiative´s singular characteristic is that the project counts on the participation of ordinary people. The project has been dubbed the “Ola Solar del Carmel” (Carmel Solar Wave).

The concept of Ola Solar has been coined by the Terra Foundation to describe inexpensive solar installations designed to fit a sustainable capitalist model where “waves of solar citizens” may participate.

The stall owners at the market have shown their interest in buying shares in the project, which run from 1,000 to 3,000 euros ($1,413 to $4,240 approx.). This isn´t a donation but rather an investment, meaning that the citizens will get a return on their investment, which is guaranteed to be at least as high as inflation. The generation center has a power of 43.7 kWh and it is expected to produce up to 5,000 kWh/year. The estimated gross return is forecast to amount to 28,000 euros ($39,575) and the pollution savings to reach 25 tonnes of CO2.

Ola Solar at Carmel Market, Barcelona
(Pictures courtesy of the Terra Foundation)

The project wil make Carmel Market into one of the first public facilities to unite people in fighting against climate change through investments in renewable energies. The project goes one step further than the rest of the programs that Markets of Barcelona already carries out in the area of environmental responsability, like selective garbage collection, its posterior treatment and a commitment to install solar panels in those markets in Barcelona that are still to be refurbished.