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Concentrix Solar and Abengoa Solar successfully connect the 2 MW power station to Spanish grid

Concentrix Solar installs 100 kW for power station located at the Solúcar Complex . Seville(Spain)

Sevilla, October 22, 2008

At the end of September, Concentrix Solar GmbH together with its partner Abengoa Solar successfully connected a 2 MW photovoltaic power plant to the public utility grid under the still valid version of the Royal Decreto, the first Spanish feed-in tariff law. The power station is installed in Sanlúcar la Mayor near Seville and consists of both silicon flat modules and concentrator PV modules which are mounted on tracking systems. It is the first combination power plant of this kind. The CEO of Concentrix Solar, Hansjörg Lerchenmüller, is pleased with the results: “ Casaquemada is an important step for us to show that FLATCON® is a competitive technology and an alternative to conventional photovoltaics technology. The technology has proven itself in a commercial power plant, clearly demonstrating that a mature state has been reached”.

FLATCON® modules are high concentration photovoltaic systems that employ Fresnel lens and extremely high-efficiency cells and achieve 500 times sun’s concentration.

The systems are installed on grounds belonging to Abengoa Solar. By the year 2013, a total power of 300 MW is to be installed here in order to supply 153 000 houses in the Seville region with electricity. Fernando Celaya, PV director at Abengoa Solar, is also happy about the successful cooperation. “Concentrix Solar achieves an impressive efficiency with its technology. The excellent results of the test trackers on our test fields have reinforced our decision to use the technology from Concentrix Solar in the 2 MW project in Casaquemada”.

Already in August 2008, the installation, consisting of nineteen FLATCON® trackers from Concentrix Solar each with a power of 5.75 kW, was completed and ready for grid-connection. For the 100 kW installation, the new optimized module generation from Concentrix Solar is put into operation, making record system efficiencies of 23% AC possible.

In the first week of August, the new module generation was also put into operation in a further demonstration system in Altomonte, Italy. In addition, the new modules are employed in the ISFOC project in Puertollano, Spain where 500 kW will be installed. The first 200 kW of this power plant have already been installed. To manufacture this new generation of modules, Concentrix Solar put a 25 MW fully automated production line into operation. As a result, the technology is now available in an industrial volume enabling Concentrix Solar to build future power stations in the MW range.

About Concentrix Solar

Concentrix Solar GmbH was founded in February 2005 as a spin-off company of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in Freiburg, Germany. Concentrix Solar manufactures concentrator power plants for sunny locations. Using a Fresnel lens, sunlight is concentrated 500 times focussing onto a small highly-efficient solar cell. These solar cells convert the concentrated light directly into electrical energy. Concentrix Solar was awarded the Innovation Award of the German Economy 2007 in the category of “Start-Up Companies.” Since September 2008, Concentrix Solar operates a 25 MW fully automated production line in Freiburg for manufacturing the concentrator modules.

About Abengoa Solar

Abengoa Solar focuses its business on developing and applying technology for generating electric power with the sun.The company builds and operates concentrating solar power and photovoltaic electricity plants and develops and commercializes the technologies needed to do so (RD+I).

Abengoa Solar is headquartered in Spain and USA and has plants in these and other countries. (www.abengoasolar.com)

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