Start-up of the Ashalim solar thermal power plant

The Spanish company Integral Combustion Solutions (Soluciones Integrales de Combustión XXI) has recently started up the Ashalim solar thermal plant in Israel, which has a capacity of 121 MW.

Ashalim Solar Thermal Power Station is one of the largest global projects of its kind and has become the first solar thermal power plant with Concentrate Solar Power (CSP) tower technology developed in Israel by GE and its technology partner BrightSource Energy, in which has made an investment of 1,000 million dollars. The installation will serve 120,000 homes, and will represent an equivalent to 2% of the country’s consumption, thus approaching its goal of producing 10% of energy through renewable energy by 2020. To achieve this, the installation has more than 5,000 computer-controlled heliostats, or mirrors, that track the sun on two axes and reflect sunlight in a boiler at the top of a 250-meter tower.

The Ashalim solar thermal plant has 5 large boilers and 25 thermal MW manufactured by the Valencian company Sugimat; as well as with three industrial burners model JBD-60.000-G of E & M Combustion, which will work with natural gas, and two other mixed burners JBD-60.000-GLO of the same company that will operate with diesel and natural gas. The five combustion equipment will work with air preheated up to 250ºC and with a system of Flue Gas Recirculation system (F.G.R.) to achieve reducing NOx emissions below 100 mg / Nm3 in the combustion of natural gas.

Optimizing Combustion

The use of preheated air in the burners allows to significantly improve the performance of the plant, but at the same time increases the emissions, by increasing the flame temperature. The technical solution provided by E & M Combustion engineers allows to counteract the increase in emissions through the implementation of a combustion Flue Gas Recirculation system (FGR), which optimizes combustion by reducing the flame temperature, decreasing it likewise the thermal NOx.

GE is responsible for the engineering, supply and construction (EPC) of the Ashalim solar plant under the turnkey formula, and will also provide operation and maintenance services for a period of 25 years. In turn, its technological partner BrightSource has supplied the advanced technology of the plant, which includes the heliostats and the solar field control system. The project is built and operated by Megalim Solar Power, a newly created company comprised of GE, BrightSource and NOY – Infrastructure and Energy Investment Fund, which will sell the plant’s electric power to the government corporation Israel Electricity Corporation.

Commissioning of facilities

The commissioning of energy facilities is one of the main services of Integral Combustion Solutions, for which it has its own technical service for installation and commissioning. The company undertakes projects in practically the entire world. In this service area, it also carries out the revamping of thermal power plants, repairs and maintenance and inspection thereof.