Fluor tapped for concentrating solar project in Spain

Fluor will help build a 50-megawatt concentrating solar power plant in Badajoz, Spain

By Oliver M. Bayani

Dave Dunning, president of Fluor’s power group, said concentrating solar power technology has gained
momentum in Spain and throughout the world.

Fluor will help build a 50-megawatt concentrating solar power plant in Badajoz, Spain after being chosen by project developer Elecnor S.A.

Working through an engineering services contract, Fluor’s operations in Asturias and Madrid will provide design and construction assistance to the project which would use parabolic troughs. The troughs will collect sunlight to heat a liquid that will generate steam.

The solar plant’s developers expect to finish building the plant by the second quarter of 2011. Fluor started working with Elecnor on the project in 2009.

Dave Dunning, president of Fluor’s power group, said concentrating solar power technology has gained momentum in Spain and throughout the world.

He said a number of solar energy companies are already banking on the solar technology which has an efficiency advantages over solar cells.

In May 2009, Abengoa Solar began constructing two power plants in Écija in Seville. Planned to go online in 2011, the two plants with a combined output capacity of 100 MW will generate enough electricity to supply 52,000 households and reduce carbon emissions by 31,400 tons annually.

Abengoa is also developing the 1.2 billion euro ($1.6 billion) Solucar Platform complex. This 300-MW project, when completed in 2013, could provide enough electricity for 153,000 households. Avoided emissions are estimated at 185,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year.

Rather than producing electricity directly from the sun’s rays, concentrated solar technology captures sunshine using mirros to make steam needed to drive a turbine generator.

But Fluor (NYSE:{yootooltip mode=[cursor] title=[FLR] width=[556] display=[inline]}

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) also banks on the prospects of solar cells, currently building one of the world’s largest polysilicon production plants in China and another solar panel manufacturing plant in Singapore.