Shams One 100 MW CSP Plant in Abu Dhabi

Update on Project Status

Olaf Goebel1, Francisco Luque

2

1 Hochschule Hamm Lippstadt, Marker Allee 76-78, 59063 Hamm, Germany, Phone +49 2381 8789-427, email: olaf.goebel@hshl.de

2 Senior CSP Expert., Masdar Power, P.O.Box 54115, Abu Dhabi, UAE, phone: +971 2 653-2077, email fluque@masdar.ae

Abstract

A 100 MW Parabolic Trough CSP plant named Shams 1 is under construction in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The plant

is owned and operated by Shams Power Company, an Independent Power Producer (IPP) who sells the

generated power to the off-taker in Abu Dhabi, ADWEC. This paper describes the key technical data and the

commercial setup of the project. Furthermore, the status of the construction as of July 2012 will be briefly

described.

Keywords: Parabolic Trough, IPP, Abu Dhabi, Middle East

1. Introduction

In April 2006 Abu Dhabi Government decided to launch the Masdar Initiative, a long term strategic program

for future energy technologies. The initiative approaches the subject from many sides. The program includes

education, R&D, manufacturing and renewable energy project deployment. Renewable energy project

deployment consists of an international and a domestic stream.

Abu Dhabi plans to install approx. 1500 MW capacity of renewable energy power plants in the Emirate until

the year 2020. The most of this capacity will be sourced from CSP and PV technologies. While the first CSP

plant, Shams 1 will be build without thermal storage, the later ones will have storage which will allow them

to operate up to 6000 full load hours per year. With the storage and an integrated gas fired steam generator

the CSP plants will be able to provide firm capacity.

The first plant of this series is the plant named “Shams 1”. (“Shams” means “sun” in Arabic.) It will have a

capacity of 100 MW.

2. Main Technical data

Shams 1 is a Parabolic Trough Solar Power Plant. Key technical data can be summarized as follows:

Nominal electric power at DNI 730 W/m2: 100 MW (max. net output: 110 MW)

Mirror aperture: 627 840 m2 (192 loops of 4 ASTRO 150 collectors each)

Solar field area: approx. 2.5 km2

Cooling: dry cooling

Grid Connection: 220 kV

DNI resource at site: 1934 kWh / m2 /a

1

Expected power generation p.a.: 210 GWh / a

Location: Madinat Zayed (120 km south west of Abu Dhabi)

1 In earlier publications about the project a value of 2200 was provided. However, that value was based on

satellite data only, and had to be revised after ground based data became available.

There is not enough water available at the Shams 1 plant site which would allow for the operation of a wet

cooling tower. Therefore Shams 1 will use an air cooled condenser, ACC. This is more costly and less

efficient than a wet cooling tower. However, as most sites in the world suitable for large scale solar power

plants do not offer sufficient water for a wet cooling tower, dry cooling will have to be used in many future

projects. Shams 1 will be the first CSP plant in the world to demonstrate this.

In order to compensate for the lower turbine efficiency caused by the air cooled condenser at the cold end of

the turbine, a gas fired boost burner has been integrated to boost the inlet steam temperature from 380C to

540C. This boost burner will contribute approx. 18% of the total heat input to the plant. Gas burnt in the

boost burner is converted into electricity at a very high efficiency.

In order to compensate for fluctuations caused by cloudy weather conditions, a gas fired heater has been

introduced which heats the HTF (Heat Transfer Fluid) in parallel to the solar field. This heater will only be

used on cloudy days when cloud passages would cause high fluctuations at the steam generator. The heater

can also be used to run the power plant even without any sun shine. This was one requirement of ADWEC

(Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Company), the off-taker of the electricity generated by Shams 1. The

availability at all times of the year (the so called “firm capacity”) makes the plant more valuable for the off-

taker, because he does not need to keep a stand by plant ready at his own cost for the case that he would need

the power during a time when the sun is not shining. It is expected that the HTF heater will contribute

approx. 4 % of the total annual energy input to the plant.

Figure 1 shows a schematic of the Shams 1 plant including the two gas fired burners (HTF heater and booster

heater) and the air cooled condenser, ACC.

Fig. 1: Schematic of Shams 1 Plant

3. Key Data of the Time Schedule

End of 2006 First announcement of the project “Shams 1”

Sept 2007 Masdar decides to conduct the project

May 2008 Sending RfP (Request for Proposal) to 4 bidding consortia

March 2009 Nominating the Abengoa / Total Consortium as “First Ranked Bidder”

May 2009 Project put on hold, when DNI resource estimate was reduced by 12.5 %

Winter 2009 Re-start the approval process with Abu Dhabi Government

Winter 2009 Rigorous audit of the tender process by RSB (Regulation and Supervision Bureau)

May 2010 Award of the EPC and O&M contract to the respective subsidiaries of Abengoa and Total,

signing of shareholder agreement for the Project Company “Shams Power Company”

July 2010 Start of construction

February 2011 First Solar collector module in place

March 2011 Achieving Financial Closure

May 2011 Site leveling completed

May 2011 Steam Turbine in place

July 2011 HTF heaters in place

January 2012 Solar Collector implementation completed

May 2012 Commission of the first plant components

July 2012 Construction 99% completed

Forecast

End of 2012 Completion Date

4. Project Structure

The plant will be built owned and operated by a special purpose vehicle (SPV) called the Shams Power

Company. The SPV is owned 60% by Masdar (full name of Masdar: ADFEC = Abu Dhabi Future Energy

Company) and 40% by “Total Abengoa Solar Emirates Investment Company”. Figure 2 visualizes the project

setup.

SHAMS

POWER

COMPANY

ADFECTotal Abengoa Solar

Emirates Investment Company

60% 40%

Mubadala

100%

Shareholders Agreement

EPC ContractABENER / TEYMA JV

EPC Guarantor

O&M Agreement Total Abengoa Solar

Emirates O&M Company

Gas Supply AgreementADNOC

ADWEC

Power Purchase

Agreement

Department

of Finance

Green

Payment

Agreement

Connection AgreementTRANSCO

Land

Agreement

Government of Abu Dhabi

100%

ABENGOA S.A.

100% indirectly via Abener and Teyma,

both affiliates of Abeinsa,subsidiary of Abengoa S.A.

TOTAL S.A.

50%

ABENGOA S.A.

50%

O&M Guarantors

(joint and several)

TOTAL ENERGIE SOLAIRE

CONCENTREE SAS

ABENGOA SOLAR

VENTURES SA

TOTAL S.A. ABENGOA S.A.

TOTAL ENERGIE SOLAIRE CONCENTREE SAS

ABENGOA SOLAR

VENTURES SA

50% 50%

Fig. 2: Shams 1 Project Structure (Entities in boxes, agreements at arrows)

Shams Power Company contracted the EPC contractor to build and the O&M contractor to operate the plant.

The EPC and the O&M contracts have been signed in May 2010.

ADNOC will supply the gas for the HTF heater and the boost burner. The amount of gas which can be used

per year has been limited to 600 000 MMBTU per year.

Shams Power Company has obtained a license for power generation from RSB (Regulation & Supervision

Bureau).

ADWEC (Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Company) will buy the electricity from Shams Power Company.

A respective PPA was negotiated between Masdar and ADWEC, and was later novated to Shams Power

Company.

A Green Payment agreement between the Department of Finance, ADWEC and Masdar bridges the gap

between the tariff paid to Shams Power Company and the current market value of electricity in Abu Dhabi.

5. Construction Status as of July 2012

The site of the Shams 1 plant lies in a desert area south of the town of Madinat Zayed in the Western Region

of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Fig. 3: Shams 1 Site South of the Town of Madinat Zayed

The plant site of 2.5 km2 area (2.5 million m

2) consists of sand dunes and had an elevation difference of 14 m

between the highest and the lowest point. In total almost 4 million m3 of sand needed to be relocated to

achieve a flat terrain as required for a Parabolic Trough type CSP plant.

Flattening the site took almost 10 months from July 2010 to May 2011. However, it should be noted that the

works started in parallel to the mobilization, and the number of workforce and equipment was ramped up

during the first months. Furthermore, it should be noted that the construction of foundations and buildings

started before the leveling was completed at all parts of the solar field.

After flattening the site it was prepared for hosting the foundations of the collectors and the power block.

These site specific preparations lead to noteworthy additional construction costs compared to plants built at

sites with simpler soil conditions. This should be considered when planning plants at similar site conditions,

e.g. in the Sahara desert.

Delivery of the trough collector components (reflectors, receiver tubes, steel structure elements) started at the

end of 2010. They were stored in tent like temporary structures. The assembly of the collector modules took

place in a large hall on site. The planned assembly rate was achieved by using the workforce of three shifts.

The total workforce at site peaked at 1200 people. In January 2012 the installation of the collectors was

completed.

Construction was 99% completed in July 2012. First commissioning activities have started in May 2012.

Commercial operation is expected to start by the end of 2012.

Fig. 4: Pictures of Shams 1 Site Leveling

Fig. 5: Part of the solar field in December 2011

Fig. 6: front: solar steam generator, left rear: HTF heater (7 units), right rear: booster heater (2 units)

Fig. 7: HTF headers in the solar field

6. Financing

The project achieved the targeted goal of 80% of its cost being debt financed on a non recourse basis. The

term of the debt is 20 years post construction. Financial close was achieved in March 2011. Being the first

renewable energy IPP deal in the Middle East the project has been awarded with the “Deal of the Year”

Award of the international magazine “Project Finance”. The lenders included: BNP Paribas, KfW, Mizuho,

National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Natixis, Société Générale, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, The Bank

of Toyko-Mitsubishi, Union National Bank and WestLB.

7. Summary and Outlook

Shams 1 will be the first large scale solar power plant in the Middle East. It will start commercial operation

by the end of 2012. It will generate approximately 210 GWh of clean electricity per year. The PPA has a term

of 25 years from COD (Commercial Operation Date).

The plant is creating more than 1200 jobs during the peak time of the two year construction period and some

60 permanent jobs during the operation period. Furthermore it will serve as a crystallization point for solar

energy related R&D projects conducted by MI (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology).

Beside these hard facts the Shams 1 project is also a strong statement of commitment of the Abu Dhabi

Government towards future energy.

The next solar power project to be implemented by Masdar is a large scale PV plant named “Noor 1”. As

Shams 1 it will have a capacity of 100 MW. Recent price drops in PV and the fact that Abu Dhabi has a very

high Global Irradiation (GHI 2200 kWh / m2 /a) and only an average level of Direct Normal Irradiation

(DNI = 1925 kWh / m2 /a) led to a revision of the initial plan to realize the most of the targeted 1500 MW

with CSP plants. The new plan favors a mixture between PV and CSP.

8. Acknowledgements

Masdar wants to thank the Executive Council of Abu Dhabi for making this project happen by granting the

Green Payment to the project.

The project has been implemented in a country which had no framework for renewable energies in place

when the project was kicked off. It was only possible to deliver the project in a rather short period of time

due to the immense support Masdar experienced with all relevant Abu Dhabi entities. Here we want to

express our extreme gratitude to ADWEC, RSB, ADNOC, the Environmental Agency, Transco and ADDC.