The Plataforma Solar de Almería (PSA), a dependency of the Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT), is the largest concentrating solar technology research, development and test center in Europe. PSA activities are integrated in the CIEMAT organization as an R&D division of the Department of Energy.

CIEMAT organization

BASIC DATA:

• Goal: R&D in potential industrial applications of concentrating solar thermal energy and solar photochemistry.
• Location: Distributed over 103 hectares in the Tabernas Desert (Almería).
• Annual Budget: Approximately 9 M€, of which 30% come from own income.
• Human Resources: Approximately 120 persons, 22 of them in Madrid. Auxiliary personnel represent 60%.

MAIN HISTORICAL MILESTONES:

• 1999 Official inauguration of the DISS loop.
• 1990 Recognition as a ‘Large European Scientific Installation’.
• 1987 Signature of Spanish-German Agreement DLR-CIEMAT.
• 1985 Merging of the different facilities into the PSA.
• 1981 Solar thermal electricity supplied to the grid for the first time: CRS-SSPS project.
• 1977 Birth of the PSA: Beginning of the CESA-1 and SSPS projects.