Spanish According to statistics on direct overall irradiation, Spain is an ideal place to install and operate solar thermal plants. These facilities combine the advantages of renewables with the energy efficiency and manageability of conventional steam power plants. Manageability can be enhanced with hybrid technology in which thermal storage tanks are used in conjunction with gas– or even biomass–fired boilers.
In solar thermal plants, solar radiation heats an absorber fluid. The steam produced when this fluid flows across a heat exchanger is subsequently used in a conventional thermodynamic cycle. Such plants are fitted with parabolic troughs to collect and focus solar radiation. These collectors, consisting in curved parabolic mirrors, concentrate solar radiation on Dewar or absorber tubes that run along their length at the focal point, converting solar radiation into thermal energy.
SDR Energy designs its plants on the grounds of site radiometric readings, and subsequently obtains the necessary licences and administrative permits to build the facility. It assumes responsibility for procurement of the main equipment, design of both the layout of the solar field and the thermodynamic cycle for the power plant, and operation of the facility after commissioning.
