The largest solar thermal power facility in Europe travel tips and stories. Vacations ideas, cruises, spa and resorts

Located in eastern Andalusia, in the province of Granada, Spain, the Andasol solar power station is Europe’s first commercial parabolic trough solar thermal power plant. Occupies about 200 hectares of land, it is comprised of three power plants, namely Andasol 1, 2 and 3. The three plants constitute the largest solar power station in the world. Its name is a combination of Andalusia and Sol (sun in Spanish).

Because of the high altitude (1,100 m) and the semi-arid climate, the site has exceptionally high annual direct insolation of 2,200 kWh/m² per year. Each plant has a gross electricity output of 50 megawatts, producing around 180 gigawatt-hours per year. Each collector has a surface of 51 hectares equal to 70 soccer fields. Andasol 1 is able to supply environmentally friendly solar electricity for up to 200,000 people. The entire cost of the project is around €900m.

Andasol 3 is the third solar thermal power plant to be installed by Solar Millennium. The neighbouring projects Andasol 1 and Andasol 2 are already connected to the grid. The power plants have a collector surface area of over 1.5 million sq m – equal to the surface area of approximately 210 football fields – thus making it the largest solar energy site in Europe. The expected gross energy production for each power plant is 170 gigawatt hours of green energy a year. This represents a saving of approximately 450,000 tones of carbon dioxide as compared to conventional electricity generation. for more detailed information please click here.