STELAworld Celebrated his first event on thermal solar energy in the breast of the Conference of the United Nations on the Climatic Change (COP 17) celebrated of 28 November until 9 December in Durban, South Africa. The event was programmed to coincide with the resolution of 7 December where published the biddings of the Program of Acquisitions of Renewable Energy (REPP by his acronyms in groins) of the South African government. Two projects of thermoelectric solar energy (STE) with a total of 150 MW were chosen basing in the offers received. Specifically the selection of the “two projects of Abengoa, one of 50 MW of tower and another of 100 MW parabolic cylinder, marked the start of the industry STE in South Africa”, said Pancho Ndebele, President of STELAworld and President of the South African association SASTELA.

The event of STELAWorld during the COP 17 centred in the fundamental paper that the energy STE can exert in subjects so fundamental like the fight against the climatic change, the energetic security, creation of employment, reduction of the poverty, the development of green infrastructure and the opportunities of industrialisation in the areas with better solar radiation, the majority of which find in the emergent markets, like South Africa.

“The greater part of the future growth of the demand of global energy expects in the sunny countries and the solar energy has the potential to change the life of around 1400 million people in the zones of the solar belt where at present the majority of the population does not have access to the electricity”, explained Cedric Philibert, of the International Agency of Energy.

One of the fundamental values of the STE is his capacity of thermal storage that allows to adapt to the demand and provide firmness and gestionabilidad to the production. “The energy STE with storage offers to the countries of the ‘solar belt', like South Africa, the opportunity to have of an energy the 24 hours of the day during all the year, since our plant Gemasolar in Sources of Andalucia has denied the myth that the thermal solar electricity can not generate the 24 hours of the day”, in words of Álvaro Lorente, general director of Torresol Energy.