This project, with a total budget of up to €5,000,000, has been almost completely funded (€4 million) throughout the Viability Study Funds (FEV) granted by the Spanish government to United Arab Emirates. Those funds manage resources provided by the Spanish Fund for Development Support (FAD).
In November 2009, ISFOC signed a contract with the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (ADFEC), which stipulated that ISFOC would assist in a viability study on Concentration Photovoltaic technology al Masdar City, in Abu Dhabi.
This viability study is focused on the evaluation of different CPV Technologies from different manufacturers under extreme weather conditions that are common in Abu Dhabi. The study covers several aspects, such as the effect of dust, ambient temperature, mist over the power feed, and the reliability and availability of the different technologies. This viability study will be concluded by issuing a report stating whether or not CPV technology fulfils all the requirements that are considered competitive and reliable in Abu Dhabi and the surrounding regions.
The main goals of the report are to, first of all, promote the CPV Technology potential and boost the export capacity and internationalization of Spanish Companies.
Masdar Project involves a demo plant in which different technologies previously selected by ISFOC through an International Call for Proposals will participate. The participant companies are listed below:
- Energy Innovations (USA). 100Kw Installation
- Emcore (USA). 100Kw Installation
- Concentrix - Soitec (Germany). 100Kw Installation
- Magpower (Portugal). 100Kw Installation
- Everphoton (Taiwan). 90 Kw Installation
- Isofotón (Spain). 100Kw Installation
- Solfocus (Spain). 100Kw Installation
690Kw in total of CPV Technology will be installed. Those installations are set to start in August 2011, once ADFEC had executed the Civil and Electric Works at the site where the CPV plants for the demo will be located. Participant Companies will have a period of four months to supply and install their plants. Afterwards, ISFOC will start the process of provisional acceptance of the plants, which is supposed to be ended by February 2012.
From that moment and over a period of a year, say, February 2013, ISFOC will issue periodic reports, including, among other several aspects, the performance of the installed Technologies.
