GENERATION PLANTS

General Plant Data

·       Location: Ouarzazate Draa-Tafilalet Morocco

·       Owner(s): NOMAC

·       Capacity (MW): 150 MW

Plant Timeline

·       Generation Start Year: 2018

·       Closure Time: Mar - Dec 2022

Plant Costs

·       Construction Cost ($): $862 million

·       Cost pkWh ($): 5847

·       LCOE ($): 0.15

Heliostat Design

·       Heliostat Aperture Area (m²): 178.5m2

·       Heliostat Manufacturer: HE54

·       Heliostat Model: HE54

·       Heliostat Dimension: 13.4m x 134m

·       Heliostat Facets (C x R): 9 x 6

·       Solar Field Area (m²): 1.312 million

·       Heliostat Cost pm² ($): 262.8

Tower/Receiver

·       Tower Height (m): 250m

·       Receiver Fluid: Molten Salt

·       Receiever Manufacturer: Sener Spain

·       Receiver Model: Gemsolar

Plant Layout

·       Number of Heliostats: 7400

Lessons Learned

• High capital expenditure (capex) cost of CSP plants and limited installed capacity means financing costs remain far higher than for PV and wind plants.
•  The weighted average cost of capital (WACC) for parabolic trough CSP plants is estimated at around 45%-50% of levelized cost of electricity (LCOE), depending on the market
• Financing costs for CSP tower plants have remained at a premium to parabolic trough projects, due to lower installed capacity and high-profile performance issues on early projects.
• Until recently, parabolic trough technology has dominated the CSP market with over 4 GW of installed capacity, compared with 1 GW of tower capacity. 
• Demand for tower capacity is on the rise as developers leverage the greater storage efficiency of tower designs. There is currently around 610 MW of CSP tower capacity under construction in Chile, China and UAE, data from the New Energy Update CSP Global Tracker shows. 
• For tower plants, WACC might represent around 3% higher share of costs, but this is soon set to change, Lara told New Energy Update.