Foster Wheeler: Supply solar steam generator equipment
A Foster Wheeler AG subsidiary of its Global Power Group was awarded a contract for the design, supply and advisory services for two sets of solar steam generators at the Valle 1 and Valle 2 Solar Thermal Power Plants located in San José del Valle (Cadiz, Spain). The steam generators include: preheaters, superheaters, reheaters and kettle-type evaporators; in addition to high and low pressure feedwater heaters.
The plants are owned by Torresol Energy, a company created by SENER with 60 percent ownership and 40 percent ownership by the Abu-Dhabi-based company Masdar. The contract was awarded from the EPC contractor of the project—which is a joint venture developed by SENER and COBRA, both Spanish companies. The plants will have an installed power capacity of 50 MWe each. Equipment is expected to be delivered in the first quarter of 2011.
The plants will utilize the concentrated parabolic trough technology SENERtrough—developed by SENER. The energy storage tanks have the capacity to allow up to seven hours of operation without sun radiation. The goal is for the plants to operate for roughly 3,500 hours annually, and approximately 95,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions are expected to be eliminated.
“This award is a decisive step forward for Foster Wheeler’s strategy regarding solar thermal technology. It reflects our client´s confidence in the excellent performance of Foster Wheeler and also confirms the high quality standards and features of our design for the demanding heat exchanger equipment required by solar thermal power plants that utilize molten salts and oil as thermal heat transfer fluids,” comments Eric Svendsen, chief executive officer of Foster Wheeler Energia, S.L. in Madrid.
