SENER accomplished first synchronization of Noor Ouarzazate III solar tower power plant with storage system

SENER is about to start the final tests at Noor Ouarzazate III, after completing, last August, the first synchronization of the 150 MW Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plant to the Moroccan grid. With these milestones, SENER starts the last phase before the plant’s commercial operation and final delivery to the client. 

In the Noor Ouarzazate III thermal power plant, SENER has been responsible for the plant's conceptual and basic engineering, detail engineering and supplying equipment for the thermal storage system, engineering and construction of the solar field and the molten salt receiver, as well as the commissioning of the entire plant, which is expected to be delivered to the client by the end of 2018.

Noor Ouarzazate III is composed of a solar field of 7,400 heliostats HE54 (designed and patented by SENER), that point the Sun radiation towards a receiver located on the top of the tower, at a height of 250 m, thanks to the company’s highly accurate tracking system known as ‘solar tracker’. SENER has also been responsible for the 600+ MW high-powered receiver design and construction, in collaboration with Moroccan companies. Noor Ouarzazate III is also equipped with a molten salt storage system that allows the plant to keep producing electricity 7.5 hours without solar radiation and guarantees the dispatchability of the power plant. Along with all these key components, SENER has fully developed the integrated control system of the receiver and solar field.

The project is the fourth phase of the hybrid Noor Ouarzazate solar complex. The other phases are:

• Phase I: 160 MW parabolic trough CSP plant
• Phase II: 200 MW parabolic troughs complex
• Phase IV: 70 MW solar photovoltaic power plant