Borg-el-Arab. The first thermodynamic solar power plant with ENEA technology inaugurated in North Africa, consists of an area of 10 thousand m2 – the size of about two football fields – where 18 parabolic mirrors each 100 meters long “capture” solar radiation. The plant, realized through the international project MATS coordinated by ENEA, is located in the ‘City of Science and Technology’ campus of Borg el Arab about 40 kilometers from Alexandria.
The plant is based on technology created by the Nobel Prize winner, Carlo Rubbia and developed by ENEA with the use of molten salts at a maximum temperature of 550° C as a process fluid and a thermal storage system to distribute energy even in the absence of solar radiation. Combined with other ‘traditional’ fuels, the plant can supply 5 MW of heat at a high temperature, up to 1 MW of electricity and 250 m3 a day of desalinated water, satisfying the consumption of a community of over 1,000 inhabitants. (9Colonne)
