• A joint venture company between Solar Millennium AG and MAN Ferrostaal AG to act as general contractor for a parabolic-trough plant in Spain.
• The Andasol 3 power plant will provide solar-generated electricity for up to 200,000 people.
         

Essen, Germany, 6 August 2008: Essen-based MAN Solar Millennium GmbH has been assigned the so-called “early works” (preliminary work before the official contract award) for Andasol 3, a parabolic-trough power plant in the southern Spanish province of Andalusia. MAN Solar Millennium is to act as general contractor on the project, and is to deliver the solar plant in turn-key condition by February 2011, in partnership with a Spanish firm.

Located in the southern Spanish province of Andalusia, the Andasol 3 parabolic-trough power plant will be built in close proximity to its sister projects Andasol 1 and 2, which feature essentially the same design and represent the first parabolic-trough power plants in Europe. The new plant will provide up to 200,000 people with solar-generated power. Parabolic mirrors with a surface area of about 500,000 m2 (the equivalent of 70 football fields) will concentrate the sun’s energy to create heat, which will then be converted to electricity by means of a steam turbine. Thermal storage units will allow energy to be generated in a timed manner, so that the Spanish power grid will be able to draw upon environmentally clean electric power even during the night. All three Andasol projects were developed by the South-German firm Solar Millennium AG, and together constitute the single biggest solar-energy site in the world.

Solar Millennium has placed an order for the completion of early works through its project company of Andasol 3. MAN Solar Millennium (a joint venture company between MAN Ferrostaal and Solar Millennium launched in May 2007) plans to form a partnership with Spanish construction firm Duro Felguera S.A. Energía (based in Gijón) to ensure that the solar power plant can be delivered in turn-key condition within the next 30 months. As the mastermind partner, MAN Solar Millennium, will be responsible for the bulk of the construction work. The technical layout of Andasol 3’s solar field will be assigned to Flagsol GmbH, a technological subsidiary of Solar Millennium.

In realising this ambitious project, MAN Solar Millennium will be able to draw upon the competencies of both of its parent companies: MAN Ferrostaal contributes its know-how as international general contractor and an industrial plant building company while Solar Millennium bring to the joint venture its experience with technical design and construction of solar-thermal power plants. “Breaking ground on the Andasol 3 parabolic-trough power plant in the context of our early-works assignment is a critical first step towards making MAN Solar Millennium a leading provider of solar-thermal power plants,” explains Michael Pohl, Managing Director of MAN Solar Millennium.

The potential for solar-thermal power plants is enormous. Research by the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) shows that, by the middle of this century, solar-thermal plants in the Mediterranean Basin could generate twice as much power as wind, photovoltaic, biomass and geothermal put together. By that time, renewable energies may well have replaced fossil fuels in the region to a large extent. “MAN Solar Millennium has been present in this huge growth market right from the beginning and already has tried-and-tested technologies,” adds Christian Beltle, Chairman of Solar Millennium’s Managing Board and Managing Director of MAN Solar Millennium. “Over the long term, we can even export solar-power from the Mediterranean region to cover a portion of Central Europe’s energy demand. Theoretically, even less than three percent of the surface of the Sahara would suffice to satisfy the world’s electricity demand with this type of solar power plant.”