The participation of MMYPEM in the pioneering Cerro Dominador solar thermal project, located in Chile, has reached another milestone in the work progress with the unloading of salts that will be used as a thermal storage system. The Cerro Dominador complex consists of the first solar thermal plant in Latin America and a photovoltaic plant with a capacity of 110MW and 100MW respectively, and 17.5 hours of thermal storage.
This thermal storage will enable the power plant to generate electricity even when there is no solar radiation, and to keep producing electricity 24 hours a day. This is achieved in the following way: the heat captured during the day in the solar thermal power plant will be used for two purposes, for the electrical production and for the salt melting itself. When night falls they return the heat to the solar thermal power plant enabling nightly power generation.
Therefore the salts discharged in this phase function as an efficient and cost-effective system of large-scale heat accumulation. Once the entire complex becomes operational the emission of more than 870,000 tons of CO2 per year will be avoided.
The works underway consist of the deposition of the sodium and potassium sacks in a temporary storage area, followed by the transportation of salts to the fusion zone. Subsequently the salts will be prepared to finally proceed to their fusion. During this operation more than 46,000 tons of salts will be melt, becoming the first fusion of this material accomplished in Latin America.
This contract will allow MMYPEM to engage more than 80 workers among local staff and expats, as well as including the necessary machinery, trucks and means.
