Acciona Solar Power Facility in Nevada Uses Special Siemens Turbine
Acciona Solar Power , [ANA ] a Spanish energy company, installed a 1 sq km facility that focuses sunlight for heating water to produce steam to drive a 64 megawatt turbine built by Siemens [SI ]. T he facility in Nevada can generate around 134 million kwh of power each year while saving about 80,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions. The Siemens’ steam turbine had to meet specialized requirements for use at the solar facility. A solar-thermal power plant depends on the sun, and it’s run up and shut down daily when the sun rises and sets. Thus, the turbine has two sections – a high-pressure section and a low-pressure section, which also makes more flexible turbine operation possible. Siemens is a market leader in this area, and plans call for 2 new solar-thermal facilities to be built in Andalusia, Spain in 2008 and 2009.
Photo: Siemens AG
