Wind Energy

Infinia to Supply 25.5 MW Concentrating Solar Thermal Power Project in Cyprus

Infinia’s free-piston engines drive systems to turn solar thermal energy into electricity. The Kennewick, Washington-based company says its modular units, which need little land and no water, are suited to Cyprus’s hilly, semi-arid terrain where temperatures can exceed 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in summer.

The concentrated solar-thermal project, together with a planned 21- megawatt photovoltaic plant on the island, will be built by Greece’s Easypower SA in Agios Sozomenos, south of Nicosia, according to Pavlos Liasides, manager of Easypower’s local unit. Both must be licensed by Cyprus’s energy regulator.

Easypower plans to finance the projects with its own capital, contributions from partners or investment funds and bank loans, Liasides said in an interview. The solar-thermal complex, a venture with Electricity Authority of Cyprus, may also be eligible for a European Union subsidy, he said.

The solar-thermal power will be sold at 21.6 euro cents a kilowatt-hour, compared with 13.5 euro cents for electricity from the planned photovoltaic plant, Liasides said. State-owned EAC, which generates most of its output from heavy fuel oil and diesel, sold its electricity at an average price of 16.2 euro cents in 2010, the most recent data available.

Infinia, which previously supplied equipment for a 10- megawatt project in India, also has plans to supply a 50- megawatt venture in Jordan, Townley said.

www.bloomberg.com