Big Oil Producer Selling the Solar Solutions - 03/22/08

Abu Dhabi a large oil producer now will be selling solar power solutions to keep our lights on.  Masdar and the Spanish technology company Sener has formed a $15 billion joint venture called Torresol Energy.  They will build large scale solar power plants in the U.S., Europe, Australia, the Middle East and North Africa.

Torresol will start out investing $1.2 billion in three solar power plants built in Spain, but is targeting the global sunbelt for future expansion.  Torresol will be 60 percent owned by Masdar and 40 percent owned by Sener.  A target for Torresol will be the U.S. desert southwest where numerous solar companies are competing for contracts with regional utilities.  With Torresol’s financial backing they will be able to finance billion dollar solar power plants.

It is ironic that a leading oil producer invests billions in carbon free energy while the U.S. continues to subsidize Big Oil, offering near nothing for green technology.  Maybe the new president can change this.  Climate change will force the rise of renewable energy but which nations will benefit.  It will be the only nations looking forward instead of backward.  Most of the solar energy companies with contracts to build solar power plants in the U.S. are based outside the U.S. 

Torresol plans to build solar power plants using a technology called a Central Power Receiver system.  It uses a field of mirrors called heliostats that directs the sun’s rays to a tower containing a receiver.  The receiver is filled with salt, when heated vaporizes water, creating steam which drives a turbine generating electricity.  Torresol plans to have 500 megawatts of solar electricity online by 2012. 

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