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Germany Looks to North Africa's Untapped Solar Thermal Potential

By Jane Burgermeister, Contributing Writer
September 27, 2007 | 17 Comments

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Vienna, Austria [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] A study by the German Aerospace Center estimated that harnessing the sun's energy falling on just 6,000 square kilometers of desert in North Africa would supply energy equivalent to the entire oil production of the Middle East of 9 billion barrels a year.

"We increased the reflectivity of our mirrors by using better raw glass quality. The more transparent the glass, the higher the reflectivity value. We use an extremely transparent, white type of glass."

Thomas Deinlein, Flabeg

The study calculated that solar thermal power plants could supply 68 percent of North Africa's as well as Europe's electricity by 2050.

One company planning to take advantage of this untapped potential is Flabeg, a German-based manufacturer of parabolic trough mirrors for solar thermal power plants. The company recently developed a mirror that can reflect 93 percent of the sun's rays.

The improved mirror can concentrate 99% of the sun's radiation onto an absorber tube with a diameter of 70 mm or less.

Flabeg said that it expects to sell its high precision mirrors in Spain and North Africa as the solar thermal power plant market starts to take off in Europe.

The company is set to deliver 210,000 of the high precision mirrors to the 50 megawatt (MW) solar thermal power plant Andasol II, in Spain—the biggest in Europe—by the end of June 2008.

Flabeg has already equipped the 50 MW Andasol I solar thermal plant with 210,000 RP 3 mirrors.

"We increased the reflectivity of our mirrors by using better raw glass quality," Thomas Deinlein from Flabeg told RenewableEnergyAccess.com. "The more transparent the glass, the higher the reflectivity value. We use an extremely transparent, white type of glass."

It is estimated that a 50 MW solar power plant can generate 5 million kilowatt-hours more of electricity for every extra 1 percent of sunlight that is collected by solar mirrors.

Europe's first commercially operating solar thermal tower plant went into operation in Sevilla, Spain generating 11 MW of electricity in April. Plans are in place for building more solar power plants able to generate a total of 300 MW of electricity, enough to supply the city of Sevilla.

Also, European research organizations, including the German Aerospace Center, are testing different types of solar thermal technology at an experimental solar thermal plant called the Plataforma Solar de Almeria in Spain.

In addition, the German Aerospace Center has built an experimental solar thermal tower power plant in Julich, Germany, that is due to come into operation in 2008 and that will be able to generate 1.5 MW of electricity.

In Julich, 16,000 m² of mirrors will track the sun and concentrate solar radiation onto a tower to heat up the air, generate steam and drive a turbine.

The Julich plant will be used to test solar thermal tower power plant technology with a view to developing prototypes for 10 to 50 MW power plants that can be built in South Europe and North Africa.

The German Aerospace Center plan envisages building solar thermal power plants of between 50 and 200 MW in size in different locations across North Africa. Cables to transmit electricity from North Africa to Europe have already been built under the sea.

If this vision becomes a reality, it is estimated that North Africa can produce 2 to 3 times more solar thermal electricity than Europe.

Jane Burgermeister is a freelance writer based in Vienna, Austria.

Solar Energy

17 Reader Comments

Comment
1 of 17

carolyn-luce-54460

September 27, 2007

I don't understand how, if only 93% of the sunlight is reflected (and presumably 7% is absorbed my the mirrors as heat), how can 99% of the sunlight reach the absorber tube?

Comment
2 of 17

eugene-lucas-60935

September 28, 2007

One commenter asked the $64,000 question, what is the cost of solar-trough power? What is the installed cost per watt? In California, they have just signed a contract to sell solar-thermal-trough power to a utility for around $.15/KWh  After the utility adds delivery charges, that probably means $.25/KWh electricity.  Still lots more than grid power. Even though the sun only shines in the daytime, that's when the peak load is.  Solar insolation closely matches the electrical load (primarily cooling) during the day.  I love solar-thermal trough technology, but used directly to cool, or to desalinate water, not to generate electricity.

Comment
3 of 17

jeff-lanterman-56147

September 28, 2007

It seems as if many people are looking for a single silver bullet to solve all the worlds energy problems. I see this as another tool in the toolshed, another piece of the puzzle(I could go on lol). This along with wind, geo-thermal, truly efficient biofuels etc... will be the salvation of the world and much of it appears feasable now, and in the near future. It gives me hope!

Comment
4 of 17

hussain-alrobaei-50048

September 28, 2007

Wind, biomass and Concentrating Solar thermal Power (CSP) plants are already today competitive with fuel oil at 50 $/barrel, and heading for competitiveness with natural gas and coal. A major advantage of CSP plants is their capability for thermal energy storage and hybrid operation with fossil or bio-fuels, allowing them to provide firm power capacity on demand. Further, due to a higher solar irradiance, the cost of CSP is usually lower in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) than in Europe. Therefore, there will be a significant market for producing solar electricity under the ideal meteorological conditions in the sunbelt countries of the MENA and transferring part of this electricity to Europe. As proposed recently by the Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation, concentrating solar thermal power stations in MENA could be used for export electricity to Europe as well as for providing regional freshwater from combined thermal desalination of sea water [1,2]. The electricity produced in CSP plants can be used for domestic needs and export, as well as for additional desalination of sea water through reverse osmosis (RO), if required. The design of such combined solar power and desalination plants can be flexibly adapted to any required size and need. CSP plants can be designed from 5 MW to several 100 MW capacity [3]. Therefore, in the future European mix of energy sources for power generation, CSP can serve to cover base load, intermediate load or peaking load and even to compensate the fluctuations of PV and wind power. 1. Hussain Alrobaei , 2007, Novel Integrated Gas Turbine Solar Cogeneration Power Plant/DEC, Halkidiki, Greece ,22–25 April 2007.2. Hussain Alrobaei , 2006 , Repowering and Modification of Grid Connected Reverse Osmosis Desalination Plants/CIERTA 2006 , Exposiciones y Congresos - Roquetas de Mar (Almería). 3. Hussain Alrobaei,2006, Integrated Gas Turbine Solar Power Plant/ The Energy Central Network/ energycentral.com/centers/knowledge/whitepapers.

Comment
5 of 17

geoff-steele-67209

September 28, 2007

One must assume these plants produce power during daylight only. How will power be stored for nighttime supply, or are the plants only seen as supplemental or complementary power sources for existing conventional coal, oil or nuclear fired thermal plants ?  How will these plants be attended and protected?  And how will they be cleaned to maintain output levels after anomalies like sandstorms, etc.  There is not much information given here about the operation of the mirrors.  Are they flash heating water in the tubes to steam and then driving steam turbines, or are they using direct heat-to-electricity thermocouple technology to produce power ?  Thanks for additional information.

Comment
6 of 17

joe-n-zhou-61564

September 28, 2007

What is the cost of the electricity produced by such plants, in comparison to what people are paying today for the electricity otherwise produced?

Comment
7 of 17

nainish-bapna-71955

September 28, 2007

What is the lifespan of such plants - what is the total net energy return from the different types of solar plants?

Comment
8 of 17

e-v-r-sastry-38156

September 28, 2007

Carolyn, I think it is 99% of 93%. The reflection is achieved by a coating on the back of the glass sheet (which is why the higher transmissivity of the glass improves the overall reflectivity of the mirror) and the concentration is a result of the shape of the mirror. Both 93 and 99 are excellent numbers. But what is not clear is whether the RP 3 mirrors used in the Andasol I plant have these specifications. If the 93% reflectivity is a new development ( as mentioned in the article), then the company will presumably have a new type number for this generation of mirrors; also the Andasol II plant should then have a slightly higher output than 50 MW. Jane should tell us.

Comment
9 of 17

jon-oconnor-70918

September 29, 2007

I wish to work for an alternative energy company or a distributor here in North Carolina. Would anyone have a suggestion on whom to contact. I plan on converting my farm to total alternative energy but wish to work in the alternative energy field for a few years prior to the conversion. I need to know more about CSP and hydrogen co-generation. Would you have any suggestions?Jon O'Connor919 365-0184

Comment
10 of 17

jim-berry-51310

October 1, 2007

This article must be a joke.  The solar thermal advantage of Africa is going to be complete eaten up by the transmission costs to Europe. The two grids are not hookuped - I hear there is water in between. Also, Southern Europe is not the energy intensive end of the Europe. Politically, Which of the Northern African nations would you invest in for 25 years just to break even?  None leap to mind. As fir the comment about native uses for the power, I hate to point it out, but African's can't afford desalinated water. That's $2,000 to $5,000 per acre foot to be used or to supplement irrigation to grow crops/meat  that yields less than $1,000 per acre foot of water. I know the gov't and enviromentalist  would see nothing wrong with this equations, but those of us who pay the bills/taxes see a huge problem with this idea. You are better off banning farming than uses desalinization plants. 2 to 5 times cheaper and adds no co2 to the enviroment.

Comment
11 of 17

stephan-darian-57829

October 1, 2007

How come you do not bring this tehcnology to the USA?Whats' the cost OF PRODUCTION per KWH? Stephan Darian 818 - 266-7601

Comment
12 of 17

rhys-marshall-45142

October 3, 2007

I think some people are missing an obvious point. Why not us a solar thermal plant to flash sea water to steam. The steam drives a turbine creating electricity and as the steam condenses back to liquid you have fresh water. This is getting two uses out of one capital investment. Throughout the time of the Roman empire the area of Carthage (now modern day Tunisia) was the Bread basket and salad bowl of the empire. With an abundant supply of fresh water from such a plant it could become so once again. Various Gov'ts of Europe could invest in such plants thus securing future energy needs and also helping to stabilize an unstable region and promote world peace and stability

Comment
13 of 17

george-peter-41480

October 4, 2007

Has anyone calculated the impact on climate of converting the North African desert to a solar power station.

Dr. George Peter
Director, Renewable Energy Centre, Mithradham.

Comment
14 of 17

gary-tulie-73445

November 9, 2007

The National Renewable Energy Lab believes that cost has potential to be directly comparable to the lowest cost fossil fueled power plants within 5-10 years.

http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy03osti/34186.pdf

Schott puts current cost at around 15 - 17 Cents/kWh, reducing to 13 Cents for a 300 Mw plant, or around 11 Cents if around 1 Gw were built in the same general area. These are current costs, and will fall further with design improvements and further ramp up of mass production. Already, contracts on this sort of scale are being seriously looked at, and in a number of cases signed in the USA, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Libya, Algeria and Isreal.

http://www.news.com/Shrinking-the-cost-for-solar-power/2100-11392_3-6182947.html

Comment
15 of 17

f-berry-47814

November 12, 2007

Bottom line, we all need as residential individuals to move toward our own little "independant" strong holds. We need the homes to produce energy via geot.or PV/solar hot water prod. In five years,..do u think cars will be running on gas? PHEV's will be everywhere, and people will be able to drive their cars to work on electrons generated by their' homes PV units.
____________
Until gas hits an average of lets say,...$5.00 a gallon and our economy is nearly shut down, many people don't think the government will act to mandate.
A giant leap of faith by hot water/PV companies must take shape. "Build them,....and they will come"
All the Best,

Comment
16 of 17

neil-tilstone-78005

January 21, 2008

one thing i wondered about - and one that might make the cost per wattage cheaper still for north africa - if desalinisation of sea water is done in any way for locals or whoever, surely the other by product is sea salt, surely this also has some value for the minerals it contains if produced on an industrial scale. and surely the benefits for the countries involved would be a big enough incentive for stability and peace for the countries involved to remain stable and a worthwhile long term investment. the job creation alone would make stability better, and reduce the need to go to europe to find work for potential refugees, we would also be wise in investing in farming alongside the solar electricity production - farming would also help decrease the CO2 in some small but significant  way - investments in this could also come from selling carbon credits too.

Comment
17 of 17

remi-alaran-83095

March 17, 2008

Can anyone provide links/resources for solar irradiance maps in West Africa region?  We are researching solar collector technology to assist energy-poor communities.

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