Renewable Energy
200,000 homes, says the Dubai-based association.
A good example of a driver for this change is found in Egypt, where ageing gas-fi red generating infrastructure is making solar and wind more appealing options. Last year the government there unveiled a programme to see the introduction of 2000MW of large-scale photovoltaic power projects and 300MW of rooftop solar power projects. 176 companies responded to the invitation to tender. T e US$750 million (€690 million), 100MW solar thermal power plant planned for Kom Ombo, Aswan, is part of the Egyptian government’s commitment to improve its use of renewable energy resources. T e country’s Ministry of Electricity and Energy plans to cover 12% of electrical power demand using such resources by 2020. As part of this strategy, the New and
Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) has focused on a number of renewable generation projects that concentrate primarily on solar and wind resources. T e NREA is currently completing its technical, fi nancial, environmental and social impact reports on the Kom Ombo project. Should these be positive, the plan is to build a facility that will consist of concentrated solar arrays covering an area of 3.5 km2
.
A three-stage process begins with the collection of solar energy, which will be
used to generate steam. T e second stage involves heat transfer fl uid loops. Here, the temperature of special oil in the receiver is about 400ºc and the pressure 12 bar. T en the oil is pumped to a heat exchanger to generate super-heated steam which in turn is passed to the turbine.
Thermal storage Finally there is thermal storage. By using molten salt as the storage technology with two-tank (hot and cold) technology, thermal energy can be stored during the day and then used to generate steam at night.
U
S$50 billion will be invested in the Middle East solar industry to increase capacity from 380MW
to 15,000MW by 2020, according to Solar Middle East, the solar technology exhibition, to be held in Dubai next year.
When commissioned the project should generate 385 million kWh per year of electricity, saving Egypt about 90,000 tonnes of oil equivalent, while reducing the country’s carbon dioxide emissions by about 200,000 tonnes per year. T e second driver for the expansion in solar energy in the MENA region is the unpredictable price of oil. “Power plant operators do not like vast swings in fuel prices…solar power on the
One millionth PV solar module delivered to Copper Mountain project
T
he Energy Alternatives Division of Cupertino Electric has reached a major installation milestone on Sempra US Gas & Power and Consolidated Edison
Development’s 250MW Copper Mountain Solar 3 project located in Boulder City, Nevada. Working alongside international engineering and
project management company Amec Foster Wheeler, Cupertino Electric has installed one million photovoltaic (PV) solar modules on the 1400-acre, fi xed tilt, ground- mount project that broke ground in early 2013. “This is a signifi cant project in the solar market,” said
Tom Dodson, vice president, construction for Amec Foster Wheeler. “We are delighted to have partnered with Cupertino Electric to leverage our global design, engineering and project management expertise to jointly
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deliver this prominent project to Sempra US Gas & Power and Consolidated Edison Development.” Cupertino had previously worked on the Copper
Mountain solar 2 project as an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) specialist. “We were pleased to continue our successful run on this latest project,” said John Curcio, Cupertino’s chief commercial offi cer. “As our portfolio of utility-scale solar projects we have
worked on has grown exponentially in the last few years, so has our ability to innovate and safely deliver the highest- quality solar projects across the US on schedule for the best value. We are proud to work with Sempra U.S. Gas & Power, Consolidated Edison Development and Amec Foster Wheeler on what we believe will prove to be the gold standard for solar project design and construction.” ●
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