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Stadtwerke – DGAP-News : Solar Millennium: Stadtwerke München, RWE Innogy and RheinEnergie enter solar-thermal power plant Andasol 3
Solar Millennium: Stadtwerke München, RWE Innogy and RheinEnergie enter solar-thermal power plant Andasol 3
10 July 2009 Today, additional investors have entered the parabolic trough power plant project Andasol 3, developed by Solar Millennium AG (ISIN DE0007218406) in the south of Spain. The plant is presently under construction. In this transaction, the holding company Solanda GmbH, a joint venture with MAN Ferrostaal AG, is selling 74 % of its shares in the Andasol 3 project company, Marquesado Solar S.L., to several utilities. Stadtwerke München is acquiring a stake of 48.9 % in the project company, RWE Innogy and RheinEnergie are acquiring 25.1 % via a joint holding company (RWE Innogy: 51 %, RheinEnergie: 49 %). The other 26 % remain in the hands of the holding company Solanda GmbH that is owned by MAN Ferrostaal (61.5 %) and Solar Millennium (38.5 %).
The Andasol projects are three 50 MW parabolic trough power plants in Andalusia, which were initiated and developed by Solar Millennium AG. Solar Millennium AG’s subsidiary Flagsol in Cologne contributed the solar field technology for the three power plants. Whilst Andasol 1 and 2 were implemented together with a Spanish construction company and are already producing electricity, Andasol 3 is under construction and scheduled to be connected to the grid in 2011. The Andasol 3 project is the first time Solar Millennium is also responsible for the construction of a power plant via its joint venture with MAN Ferrostaal, MAN Solar Millennium GmbH, and in cooperation with the Spanish company Duro Felguera S.A. The three Andasol power plants will supply around half a million people with environmentally friendly electricity.
Christian Beltle, CEO of Solar Millennium, welcomes the involvement of the investors: ‘As a result of our early market entry we have gained extensive know-how in the development and realization of solar-thermal power plants. In both Spain and Egypt we delivered the solar technology for the countries’ first ever parabolic trough power plants. The fact that we are now acting in concert with four German top companies is a wonderful acknowledgement of our work so far.’
Thomas Mayer, CFO of Solar Millennium, adds: ‘The involvement of investors in the project company Andasol 3 is an impressive confirmation of our business model. In contrast to Andasol 1 and 2, which were 80 % debt-financed, we have been increasingly pursuing two alternative financing models for new power plant projects: 100 % equity financing via major investors and fund models. We are pleased that we have been able to win such renowned utilities as investors. Our financing options are the guarantee of our success, even in times of difficult financial market conditions.’
Dr. Wolfgang Knothe, member of Solar Millennium’s management board and the responsible managing director of the joint power plant construction subsidiary with MAN Ferrostaal says: ‘In the Andasol 3 project Solar Millennium covers the entire value-added chain of solar-thermal power plants from development, financing and construction through to operation. In doing so, we are utilizing Solar Millennium’s comprehensive technological know-how and MAN Ferrostaal’s competence in power plant construction.’
About Solar Millennium AG:
Solar Millennium AG, Erlangen, is an international company in the renewable energy sector, with its main emphasis on solar-thermal power plants. Together with its subsidiaries, the Company specializes in parabolic trough power plants, a proven and reliable technology with which the Group has adopted a leading position worldwide. Solar Millennium covers all important business sectors along the value chain for solar-thermal power plants – from project development and technology to turn-key construction as well as plant operation and investments in power plants. In Spain, Solar Millennium developed Europe’s first parabolic trough power plants and realized them with its partners. Additional projects are planned around the world with an overall capacity of more than 2,000 megawatts. The current regional focus is on Spain, the US, China and North Africa. Furthermore, the Company has the aim of achieving market readiness for the so-called Blue Tower technology for the generation of product gas that is rich in hydrogen through the reformation of regenerative residual materials, and also for solar chimney power plants in the long run.
About solar thermal power plant technology:
Solar thermal power plants generate electricity by converting solar radiation into heat energy. In a parabolic trough power plant, trough-shaped mirrors concentrate the incidental radiation onto a pipe in the focal line of the collector. Its absorption heats a fluid heat medium in the pipe, generating steam in the power block through a heat exchanger. As in conventional power plants, the steam powers a turbine to generate electricity. By integrating thermal storage, electricity can be supplied on demand, even after sunset.