Jul 21 2010
Spain has announced the opening of its mammoth La Florida solar plant in Alvarado, Badajoz. With the inauguration of this solar power plant, Spain clearly edges out United States in solar power generation.
La Florida solar plant in Alvarado permits the solar power production capability of Spain to reach 432 MW, an apparent margin of10 MW higher production than United States’s 422 MW, while Germany continues to lead the world by its highest solar power facility.
Solar Panels
According to the news reports the La Florida plant deploys a parabolic trough for power generation. By deploying this method the sun light is reverberated off a parabolic mirror on to a tube filled with fluid. The heated liquid is then utilized to produce heat steam and in turn run the turbines to produce electricity. The alignment of the mirrors allows it to track the movement of the sun all through the day to absorb solar energy.
The solar farm covers roughly 550,000 square meter of area that is equivalent to the area of 77 football grounds and produces 50 MW of solar power. During the year 2009 Spain was able to harness enough solar energy only to meet 2.8% of its total power need and its total renewable energy production met around 12.9% of its total power demand. Last March the government announced its plans to augment the share of its renewable energy by 22.7% by the year 2020. The government intends to take advantage of its 340 days year sunshine for producing cleaner green energy.