Solel

Solel Parabolic trough reflectors tracking the sun concentrate solar thermal energy on a tube containing process fluid, which superheats water via a heat exchanger to drive a steam turbine.

In an effort to sharply increase the use of renewable energy in the next decade, Israel has issued a prequalifying tender for what will be one of the world’s largest solar power projects. The country has ideal climactic conditions for solar energy and is home to two of the world’s leading solar-energy developers, but it has been slow to develop its own use of the technology for electricity generation. The government now is taking action to change that.

The national infrastructure and finance ministries have issued a tender to prequalify for a build-own-transfer project consisting of two 80-MW to 125-MW solar thermal power stations at Ashalim in the Negev desert. A separate tender at the same site will be for a third solar plant that will use photovoltaic technology to generate 15 MW of power. There also is an option for doubling the size of the photovoltaic facility. The project’s total value is estimated at over $700 million.

“The solar tender at Ashalim is a cornerstone of our renewable energy policy,” says National Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer. He has said on numerous occasions in recent months that Israel has fallen behind in the solar-energy field, and he wants to change that. Officials of Solel Systems Ltd. and Luz II, the Israel-based solar developers, say the government bureaucracy has made it difficult to move on solar projects.

The National Infrastructure Ministry has set a target of generating 10%, about 2,000 MW, of Israel’s electricity with renewable sources by 2010. About 1,600 MW is expected to come from solar energy, and Ben-Eliezer wants to boost that to 2,000 MW by 2020.

Lining Up

Prequalifications will be accepted through July 1. The government hopes to complete the selection by early 2009 at the latest. The solar powerplants are expected to be fully operational in 2011.

Solel and Luz II both are expected to compete. Solel is a world leader in solar thermal powerplants using parabolic mirrors to heat a process fluid in a pipe. The fluid heats water to steam to drive a turbine. The company has been active in recent years in the U.S. and Spain. Solel has an agreement with Pacific Gas & Electric to supply electricity from a 553-MW solar powerplant planned in the Mojave Desert. The Israeli company has also formed a joint venture with Spain’s Sacyr Vallehermoso to build three 50-MW solar powerplants in Spain.

Luz II’s approach uses a cluster of heliostats, or flat mirrors that follow the sun, to heat a receiver containing a steam boiler atop a tower. Pipelines link multiple towers to a central location where the superheated steam drives a turbine to generate electricity. Solar One, a 10-MW plant of similar design built in 1981 in the Mojave Desert for a U.S. Dept. of Energy demonstration, used a single power tower. A pilot plant to test the “Distributed Power Tower” technology is under construction in Israel and due to begin operations later this year.

BrightSource Energy Inc., Luz II’s Oakland, Calif.-based parent, has filed an application for construction of a 400-MW solar power plant with the California Energy Commission. The power plant is to be located in the Mojave Desert.