The scope of supply encompasses the turnkey solar field, including the solar receivers. The parabolic trough power plant with a capacity of 50 megawatts (MW) will be built in Olivenza (Badajoz) and includes 123 loops of parabolic trough collectors. The concentrated solar energy plant Termosolar Olivenza 1 is planned to go operational by the end of 2012. The capacity of the solar thermal plant is sufficient to provide power for about 50,000 Spanish households.

"Siemens is able to design, construct and integrate flexible solar fields to address the project-specific needs of our customers," said Avi Brenmiller, CEO of the Siemens Business Unit Solar Thermal Energy.

With this type of solar thermal power plant the sun’s energy is concentrated by parabolic mirrors on a small surface area. A receiver tube is located in the focal line of the half-open sun-tracking mirrors. Thermo oil as the heat transfer medium circulates within the tube. The heated oil produces steam in a heat exchanger, which is used to generate electricity with the aid of a steam turbine-generator.

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