Central tower solar thermal concentration in circular arrangement

Project description

Ashalim is a thermal plant established in the Ramat Negev region in the Negev desert. It provides 250 MW of electricity (2,5% of the Israels consumption), which makes it the largest of its kind in Israel and the 5th largest in the world. The station combines three kinds of energy: solar thermal energy, photovoltaic energy and natural gas.

The technology used employs thousands of mirrors to reflect sunlight onto a central receiver atop a tower to produce high temperature steam at the highest levels of solar efficiency. The steam is then piped to a steam turbine and generator which produce electricity. As this tower technology can operate at the highest steam temperature ranges, the system benefits from the highest efficiency, performance and therefore lowest cost-per-MW among solar technologies.

Citec's scope

Citec provided all the civil engineering work. Citec is responsible for all structures and also concrete foundation design for 75% of the plant. The scope of work is split in three phases:

  • Basic engineering phase 1 (permitting)
  • Basic engineering phase 2
  • Detail engineering

Citec’s scope of work hours are approximately 16 500 man hours.

Case in brief
Customer: Alstom Power Belfort
Project location: Israel
Year completed: 2015