Torresol Energy

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As the third World Future Energy Summit (WFES), held in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) draws to a close and some 18,420 visitors make their way back to the 84 countries from which they came, Álvaro Lorente, CEO of Torresol Energy, of Spain, spoke to IRJ about this momentous event and Torresol Energy’s continued pioneering efforts in reinventing solar power.

Before we hear about the success of the summit, there are a few things that everyone ought to know about Torresol Energy; a truly technologically, financially and globally powerful solar player.

Talking Torresol Energy

Torresol Energy is a joint venture company between SENER Ingeniería y Sistemas (SENER), Spain’s largest privately-owned engineering group, and Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s government-owned future energy company. Torresol Energy’s aim is to promote the development and operation of large-scale CSP plants throughout the world.

“These two companies have strong synergies,” Lorente tells IRJ. “On the one hand, SENER is providing the technological support for this operation, and Masdar is giving the financial reputation to bring a lot of comfort to financial institutions.”

This mighty backing has of course served Torresol Energy well. When the global financial crisis tore into the worldwide economy it barely scratched the surface of Torresol Energy’s projects and plans.

“Perhaps other developers have suffered the financial crunch, but I think that the financial institutions look at Torresol Energy as a very strong joint venture between SENER and Masdar with very real projects and real capabilities to develop them,” Lorente says.

“I am proud to say that we didn’t have any problems in finding support from financial institutions.”

Since the economic downturn, this company has accomplished a great deal more to be proud of, most recently on January 19, 2010, announcing the US$760 million project finance loan it has secured for a Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) project in Andalucía, Spain.

“We got this loan from a group deal by the Spanish banks. It was signed on December last year, and is for our Valle solar project in the south of Spain which is two plants, 50 mega ways each (Valle 1 and Valle 2),” Lorente says.

“It’s the biggest deal that has been signed here in Spain for any renewable projects in the past year.”

Masdar too, expressed great enthusiasm in the Valle project. “Building Valle is a tremendous milestone for Torresol Energy as the company continues to become a leading global player in the CSP space. It is also an example of the great value Masdar brings to our partners as a global strategic player in the renewable industry committed to invest and take a long-term view to building a diversified renewable energy portfolio,” the company says in a press statement. The Valle plants are not Torresol’s sole focus either.

Gemasolar: A world first

Lorente explains that there are two different types of CSP technology today, and Torresol Energy is tackling both.

“One of these technologies, called Parabolic Trough, is a well-known technology because there are different installations already in the United States and here in Spain,” he explains.

“The other is central tower technology and this is most new because there are no installations throughout the world for the time being. We are building one power station of this technology in the south of Spain.”

This is Torresol Energy’s Gemasolar CSP solar plant in Fuentes de Andalucía, Seville; the first commercial-scale plant in the entire world to apply central tower technology. Once complete, Gemasolar will be 17 mega watts, capable of producing energy for 30,000 homes, and will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 40,000 tons per annum.

“The control system of a solar power plant is quite a complicated and large one. In the case of Gemasolar, we have thousands of small controllers all over the solar field and a central system that received information from the thousands of small devices,” Lorente says.

“Group Schneider (Schneider Electric) has been awarded with this system because the group has great proven experience in the field of control systems for industrial facilities.”

Gemasolar is attracting more attention from the world’s top energy players too. Coupled with SENER and Masdar, this Torresol Energy project is quite a force to be reckoned with.

“Torresol Energy has a clear advantage from other developers because we have the continuous support from SENER for our technologies, and SENER has enormous worldwide capabilities and experience,” Lorente says.

“SENER covers two of the cornerstones needed to make CSP a reality: the technology and the construction capability.”

Solar now

Lorente says that solar power is not very competitive when you consider other conventional technologies and renewable technologies today, but Torresol Energy is working with technology set to turn that around.

“The biggest target we have right now is to decrease the cost of electricity for solar power. The only way we can achieve this demanding target is to invest in technology and pioneer new solutions to decrease cost,” he says.

“One of the clear advantages that concentrated solar power has in front of wind or photovoltaics is that we can store the energy in a thermal system.”

For example, using solar thermal Torresol Energy can store energy during the day and use it during the night. “Solar thermal units with this type of storage are much more dispatchable than other renewables and solar plants which don’t have this solution,” Lorente says.

Another key issue of development is location. Torresol Energy’s strategy plan earmarks three focus regions for the development of solar projects.

“The first is Spain, the second is the UAE region, in particular Abu Dhabi, and the third area is the US,” Lorente says.

“In Abu Dhabi, we have started some studies to analyse the feasibility of developing projects in that country. In the US we have been in contact with different local developers companies to analyse the possibility of going together on different opportunities which we have identified.”

These regions are a central part of Torresol Energy’s goals today. “Our main objective right now is to complete the construction of the three plants we have here in Spain now, and to start the detailed study of the opportunities which Abu Dhabi has for CSP development,” Lorente says. “These are our main targets.”
With Torresol Energy’s history of excellence, financial fortification and industry-leading projects, these targets appear to be well within the company’s reach.

Wfes: the bright future for our 2020 energy goals

By general assessment, the COP15 (Conference of Parties) in Copenhagen, December 2009, missed the mark. However the World Future Energy Summit 2010 (WFES), was a different affair altogether.

“Copenhagen did not have a very good outcome because there weren’t any concrete solutions or tools to help the real reduction of CO2 in the world,” Lorente says.

“The (WFES) summit covered a wide range of solutions and technologies to move towards a more sustainable power generation scheme for the whole world.”
Lorente says that the WFES has come some way since the first summit took place in 2008.

“This third edition was quite remarkable because there were much more exhibitors than previous editions,” he says.

“I had the opportunity to identify different technologies and different investments and I can say without a doubt that the (solar) market is actively working to give different solutions to our main problem of cost.”

Looking towards 2020 in the afterglow of the WFES, Lorente explains that the bold decisions for feed-in tariff schemes, that have been adopted by numerous European countries, have had good results in terms of development.

“Spain is a very clear example of this,” he says. “In Europe (in 2020 for sure) the European community will achieve the 20 per cent target for renewable as a primary source of energy. I have no doubt about this. In the case of the U.S., I think that the Obama Administration is pushing forward very hard to have a generation mix of energy based on renewables—because at this moment the US is fully-based on oil and gas. I’m convinced that President Obama is absolutely committed to having a clear renewable base generation scheme for 2020.”

The outcome from the WFES in 2010 was somewhat of a shift in focus, recognising that the future of energy has arrived. Emphasis fell on education, cooperation and realising the potential contribution renewable and alternative energy resources can make to tackling climate change. As the role of solar energy continues to grow and develop with leading companies like Torresol Energy paving the way for future progress, this decade leading up to 2020 looks more promising than ever.

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