The technology behind the solar station is impressive as they don´t use the normal photo-voltaic system with its relatively low efficiency. Instead German company Andasol direct the energy by mirrors covering 210 football fields to produce heat.
To solve the problem that demand is highest when the sun is down the heat is stored in huge piles of salt which keep the electricity producing steam turbines running after sunset.
The field on the Guadix plateau in Southern Spain´s Andalucia is chosen for the ambitious 350 million Euro project because the skies are so clear that it receives more solar energy than the entire Saudi Arabian peninsula!
However the future is not too sunny for solar energy projects in Europe as governments struggling with deficits are pulling the plug on the subsidies. The so called feed-in: the money you get for providing electricity into the national grid is a crucial part of the business models for these projects.
With Spain being keen on reducing its debt even further (they already have ono of the lowest in Europe beating f.i. Germany) the investors are worried that future subsidies will go down. So far Spain has proven to be a reliable partner but with the UK recently slashing down subsidized feed-in tariffs by half they worry about the future.
Ernst & Young report claimed that a gap of $22.5bn on investment in renewable energy and subsidies is likely to emerge across 10 leading world economies in less than four years. Among them is the UK where the shortfall is estimated to be $5bn, while in Spain – effectively confirming Kistner’s fears – it would be $6bn.
Just under a month ago, on an empty mountain plateau in Andalusia, the last of 600,000 parabolic mirrors were connected, and Andasol, the world’s largest solar power station, become operational. It is…