EGYPT’S SOLAR-GAS HYBRID COMES ONLINE

Egypt’s first solar-thermal plant goes into operation in Kuraymat
Pangea, December 28, 2010 (World of Renewables)

"In Kuraymat, roughly 100 kilometers south of Cairo, a major solar-thermal power plant is going into operation for the first time in Egypt…[The150 megawatt hybrid] power plant… will use solar energy and natural gas…[to generate electricity] around the clock…Commissioning [is said to be] an important indication that the DESERTEC concept can be realized…

"The solar technology for this reference project has been provided by Flagsol GmbH, a subsidiary of the Erlangen-based company Solar Millennium AG…Flagsol designed the solar field, delivered the control for the solar field and was responsible for supplying important key components, primarily the parabolic mirrors and absorber pipes. The solar field was built and is put into operation in cooperation with the Egyptian company Orascom Construction Industries…"

The parabolic concentrating solar mirrrors at Kuraymat (click to enlarge)

"…In an assembly hall on the site, skilled Egyptian workers had assembled mirrors with a total surface area of around 130,000 m². The collectors, which were six meters high, were subsequently installed in the solar field in rows of parabolic trough mirrors several hundreds of meters long. All 2,000 collectors in the solar field are automatically directed towards the position of the sun.

"The Kuraymat site benefits from more than 2,400 kilowatt-hours of solar irradiation per square meter and year on average. The solar irradiation, which is channeled to parabolic-shaped mirrors, is reflected onto an absorber pipe in the focal line of the collector. The vacuum-isolated absorber pipes contain a circulating heat transfer fluid, which is heated up to 300-400 degrees through the concentrated sunlight. The heat transfer fluid is then pumped into the central power block and the thermal energy coming from the solar field is converted into electrical energy…"

Schematic of the Kuraymat solar-natural gas hybrid concept (click to enlarge)

"The hybrid power plant in Kuraymat was tendered internationally and commissioned by the Egyptian energy authority NREA. The overall cost came out to more than € 250 million, 30 percent of which went to realizing the solar field. Given the fact that the project can serve as an example for future projects, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) has provided a grant of around US$ 50 million for the solar field…

"The generation of electricity and the feed-in into the Egyptian grid are to start at the beginning of 2011, as soon as the conventional part with the turbine has also gone into operation…Flagsol and Orascom Construction Industries will operate the solar part of the power plant for two years before ultimately handing it over to the owner."