Spain Design Large Photovoltaic Power Plant

The first large photovoltaic power plant in Europe was inaugurated recently near Seville, Spain.

To design large photovoltaic power plants such as these is a sign that the Spanish take their solar energy needs most seriously.

This huge 11-megawatt plant, called PS10, was designed to produce 23 billion watt-hours (GWh) of electricity a year.

This is enough to supply a town of 10,000 people with electrcity and prevent about 16,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year.

PS10 is the first of a set of large photovoltaic power plants solar that are to be built in the same region and that will produce more than 300 megawatts by 2013.

The European Union (EU) feels the potential of large solar photovoltaic power plants to a more sustainable energy system has yet to be fully exploited.

This is why it contributed 5 million Euros to the overall cost of 35 million Euros it cost to build.

The EU has also contributed some 25 million Euros to research projects working to design large photovoltaic power plants.

This contribution has leveraged a large amount of additional private investment worth several hundred million Euros, in a ratio of about 10 Euros for each euro invested by the European research programme.