Abengoa unveils commissioning of 10-MW CSP facility in Chile

Jan 3, 2013 - Spanish renewables and engineering group Abengoa (MCE:ABG) yesterday said that the 10-MW concentrated solar power (CSP) plant it built in Chile had come on stream.

The CSP plant is owned by Minera El Tesoro, part of Chilean copper miner Antofagasta Minerals SA, which is a subsidiary of Antofagasta plc (LON:ANTO). It was inaugurated at end-November.

The turn-key CSP system includes 1,280 parabolic through collector modules and covers around 12 acres (5 hectares) of land. It will offset around 10,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, Abengoa said.

The facility is expected to replace over 55% of the diesel fuel Minera El Tesoro currently uses in the solution heating process for the copper electro-extraction process. Using thermal energy storage the plant will deliver heat even at night.

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