Abengoa SolarThe Spanish company Abengoa Solar is a major international producer of solar power stations and is in the middle of a flurry of construction in its home country. The company currently has two solar power towers, the PS 10 and the PS 20 operating commercially. They are part of a larger group of companies under the name of Abengoa. 
Just recently the company has started construction of two 50MW solar concentrated thermal power stations called Solnova 1 and 3. These stations use parabolic troughs to concentrate the sunlight and superheat a fluid that in turn transfers the heat to water. The steam is used to drive conventional turbines to generate electricity. The design is solid and proven, and similar plants are already in use on a large scale in the United States.Further to this, Abengoa is planning yet another three similar 50 MW power stations. The overall plan is to have the complex, located in Sanlucar la Mayor in southern Spain, producing over 300 MW of clean energy by 2013. The power is to be from a number of solar sources: 50 MW from tower technology, 250 MW from troughs, 1.2 MW produced by photovoltaic technology, and 80 MW from dish Stirling technology. Other InterestsAbengoa is also involved heavily in Bioethanol production. It has plants in Europe, the US and in Brazil. The company also has photovoltaic solar power plants operating in several locations, though these are not on the same large scale as the concentrated sunlight plants. Abengoa has a focus on research and development. The development of the larger PS 20 power station shows they are constantly looking for ways to scale up their power generation technology. Company HistoryAbengoa was founded in 1941. It operated entirely within Spain until the 1960s when it began international operations. In the 1970s the company first began branching out into other renewable energy sources such as biofuels. This expansion has continued until the present day. Abengoa now has interests in the Solar, Bioenergy, Environmental Services, Information Technologies and Engineering and Industrial Construction sectors. The company's management has kept pace with these changes and Abengoa is an efficient and well managed environmentally conscious company. More InformationFor more information visit the Abengoa Solar website. The parent company website can be found here.
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