A Simplified Thermal Solar Power Unit in the UAE: Turkish Coffee Anyone?
The United Arab Emirate’s hot sunshine will soon be providing energy as well, thanks to an agreement the American solar energy company eSolar and the German industrial services Company Ferrostaal. As noted in the UAE news site The National, the consortium will also build solar energy power plants in South Africa and Spain.
The agreement goes beyond just building the solar energy plants themselves, since Ferrostaal Ferrostaal is 70 per cent owned by Abu Dhabi’s government-owned International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC).
Abu Dhabi, the UAE’s leader in the areas of clean technology projects, is already recognized as being involved in renewable energy projects, thanks to companies like Masdar which is now engaged in a number of projects, including it’s most unique one for environmental sustainability, Masdar City.
Regarding eSolar’s partnership with Ferostaal, ESolar’s CEO, John Van Scoter said:
“This partnership with Ferrostaal is a real coup for eSolar! Ferrostaal’s extensive construction capacity and expertise – particularly in the concentrated solar thermal field – together with eSolar’s award-winning technology, offers us the opportunity to rapidly construct solar power projects across the globe in coming years.”
By becoming involved in locations like oil rich Abu Dhabi, eSolar will help further the inroads of renewable energy in a country that is also considering nuclear energy as an energy option.
eSolar specializes in constructing solar energy involves using small, flat mirrors which track the sun with high precision and reflect the sun’s heat to a tower-mounted receiver, which boils water to create steam.
This steam powers a traditional turbine and generator to produce solar electricity. This technology is said to be less expensive than solar energy plants using arrays of photovoltaic (PV) panels. Plants in the 5 MW range have already been completed in California, and supplies electricity for more than 4,000 homes.
This type of solar energy system is also being used in Israel, where solar energy companies such as Aora fired up its “tulip” solar tower pilot plant in Israel’s Arava desert region.
Whether it be solar tower and mirror plants, or photovoltaic panel ones, UAE countries like Abu Dhabi are making a wise decision to wean the country and region off environmentally damaging fossil fuels. And the completion of projects like Masdar City should help to emphasize the idea of using renewable energy to lessen the UAE’s overall carbon footprint.
More on renewable energy in Abu Dhabi and the Middle East:
EU and UAE Plan Renewable Energy Feasibility Study Based on Masdar City
World Future Energy Summit Looks to Wean UAE off Fossil Fuels
Aora Makes Desert Bloom with Sunshine Flower Power
