EPC majors celebrate award of Noor 1 and Bokpoort Concentrated Solar Thermal Power (CSP) plants.
Executives from global Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) majors Acciona, Sener and TSK together with The Dow Chemical Company met in Madrid, Spain to celebrate the companies’ strong relationship and commitment to emerging Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) markets. A consortium comprising the three contractors was recently awarded the EPC contracts by Saudi-based ACWA Power to build the Noor 1 160MW CSP Plant in Morocco and Bokpoort 50MW CSP Plant in South Africa. Dow’s DOWTHERM™ A was the Heat Transfer Fluid of choice for these plants.
"As the Middle East and Africa begin to embrace and invest in large-scale CSP projects like Noor 1 and Bokpoort, proven technology leaders are being called in to help build these world-class power generation facilities," said Sherif Badran, Commercial Director Dow Performance & Specialty Chemicals, Middle East & North Africa. "As a leading supplier of heat transfer fluids for CSP, we are excited at the potential on offer and are committed to helping the region meet its long term solar ambitions."
Today, more than 35 CSP plants filled with DOWTHERM™ A provide enough electrical generation capacity to meet the needs of more than 1 million homes at a savings of close to 4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year.
"Working with suppliers like Dow, with a capacity to provide a worldwide service, is fundamental for turnkey contracts in solar-thermal plants and Sener has been involved in more than 25 such projects, supplying proprietary technology such as SENERtrough® parabolic trough receivers," stated Ernesto Álvarez, Power and Process Business Development Manager of Sener. "Technology from Sener, Acciona and TSK, as well as Dow’s heat transfer fluids, will ensure the efficiency required by these two plants".
"In TSK we have always given top priority to values such as commitment, reliability and quality when choosing our main suppliers," affirmed Oscar Rodríguez Acinas, Purchasing Director of the Energy and Industrial Plants Division of TSK. "We have maintained a close relationship with Dow since we began working in the solar thermal world and consider Dow to be a direct collaborator in our CSP projects."
The Noor 1 project will have three hours of thermal storage and according to ACWA is currently the largest parabolic trough CSP plant in the world. It is the initial phase of a total of 6 being developed for the Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (Masen). The complex is set to develop into a 500 megawatt solar park, incorporating several utility-scale solar power plants using various solar technologies.
Bokpoort will have a net generation capacity of 50 megawatt with 9 hours of thermal energy storage and is part of the second round of the South African Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Program. Once completed, it will be the CSP power plant with the longest amount of thermal storage in the world.
Construction on Noor 1 and Bokpoort have begun, with both plants planned to go live in the second half of 2015.
"The award of Dow heat transfer fluids to the Noor 1 and Bokpoort projects bears witness to Dow, Sener, TSK and Acciona’s track record and to their willingness to work together in the quest for efficiency and excellence," declared Carlos López, General Director of ACCIONA Engineering.
How CSP Works
CSP uses parabolic mirrors to reflect and magnify heat from the sun onto a closed circulating loop containing DOWTHERM™ A heat transfer fluid. The fluid collects the heat energy and transports it to a power station where it is used to produce steam, which drives turbines to generate electricity. Solar power technology like CSP offers many advantages in regions that require reliable new sources of energy. The technology helps diversify energy supply, is capable of producing power during periods of peak demand, and reduces dependence on fossil fuels. When used instead of fossil fuel generation plants, CSP facilities offer improved air quality and can help many nations to address off-set goals for carbon emission produced by existing fossil fuel power plants. Unlike photovoltaic solar power and wind energy technologies, CSP plants can operate in conjunction with cost-effective thermal storage technology to deliver energy on-demand, making CSP a highly flexible source of renewable energy.
Dow (NYSE: DOW) combines the power of science and technology to passionately innovate what is essential to human progress. The Company connects chemistry and innovation with the principles of sustainability to help address many of the world’s most challenging problems such as the need for clean water, renewable energy generation and conservation, and increasing agricultural productivity. Dow’s diversified industry-leading portfolio of specialty chemical, advanced materials, agrosciences and plastics businesses delivers a broad range of technology-based products and solutions to customers in approximately 160 countries and in high growth sectors such as electronics, water, energy, coatings and agriculture. In 2012, Dow had annual sales of approximately $57 billion and employed approximately 54,000 people worldwide. The Company’s more than 5,000 products are manufactured at 188 sites in 36 countries across the globe.
