TORRESOL Energy, the strategic alliance between Spanish engineering group SENER and Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s multi-faceted renewable energy initiative, has secured a £170million (171million euros) financing deal which will allow construction to commence on the Gemsolar project in Spain.
It will rank as the world’s first utility-grade solar power plant with central tower and salt receiver technology and will provide clean and safe energy as well as apparently create more than 1,500 jobs in Spain. The plant is located in Fuentes de Andalucia, in Seville. Expectation is that it will be operational in 2011 and will produce 17MW of renewable energy, reducing C0 emissions by more than 50,000 tonnes a year.