Acciona Energy Chooses GE Stream Turbine Technology for its CSP Project in Spain

Acciona Energy’s concentrated solar power (CSP) project at Spain will deploy three 50 MW turbine units manufactured by GE Oil & Gas. GE utilized its expertise in stream turbine technology deployed in the petrochemical industry for developing the first GE 50 MW stream turbine for use in large level parabolic trough CSP installations.

Acciona Energy will install the three turbine units by the end of March 2011 for its CSP project in Spain. One of the turbine trains will be installed at the plant in Majadas, Spain and the other two trains will be installed at Acciona’s Sevilla and Palma del Rio facilities. The new GE CSP trains are designed to have a generator placed between the two stream turbines with a reheat arrangement to improve the systems’ capacity and to increase its overall cycle efficiency. The technology utilized in the 50 MW units is the most currently developed advanced stream turbine technology of GE. The technology is designed to offer a dependable and rich solution with a layout arrangement that merges the optimal efficiency of the stream engine and its above 39% overall cycle efficiency.

The design of the stream turbine engine is improved to augment its cycle efficiency and to endure the related thermo-mechanical strains induced by the every day startup and shutdown procedures of CSP plants. The stream turbines are designed to manage a wide stream-flow range that occurs due to changes in the intensity of solar radiation.