Spain’s Andasol solar power plants, the largest in the world with a collector surface area of over 1.5 million square meters, are now operational. The project is composed of three plants – Andasol 1,2, and 3 – with the last of the 600,000 parabolic mirrors connected in September.
Constructed by a German JV, the power station will provide solar electricity to approximately half a million people in southern Spain. Each power plant has an electricity output of 50 MW and operates with thermal storage. A full thermal reservoir can continue to run the turbines for about 7.5 hours at full-load even during rainfall, according to Solar Millennium. The heat reservoirs comprise two 14-meter high tanks providing 28,500 tons of storage capacity each.
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