Alvarado I

{{Short description|Solar thermal power station in Spain}}

{{Infobox power station

|name = Alvarado I

|image =

|image_caption =

|country = Spain

|location = Alvarado, Badajoz

|owner = ContourGlobal[https://www.acciona-energia.com/pressroom/news/2018/february/acciona-sells-its-solar-thermal-assets-spain-contourglobal/ ACCIONA sells its solar thermal assets in Spain to ContourGlobal][https://www.contourglobal.com/asset/concentrated-solar-power-spain Concentrated Solar Power Spain]

|status = O

|th_fuel_secondary = natural gas (backup)

|th_combined_cycle =

| solar_type = CSP

| solar_csp_technology = P

| solar_collectors = 768

| solar_collectors_area = {{convert|352,854|sqm|sqft}}

| ps_site_area = {{convert|135|ha|acres}}

| solar_site_resource = 2,174 kWh/m²/yr

| ps_electrical_capacity = 50

| ps_storage_capacity =

| ps_annual_generation = 105.2

| commissioned = July 2009

| decommissioned =

}}

Alvarado I (former La Risca project) is a large solar thermal power station in Alvarado, province of Badajoz, in Extremadura, Spain. Construction on the plant commenced in December 2007 and was completed in July 2009, when commercial operations began. Built by the Spanish company Acciona Energy, it has an installed capacity of {{nowrap|50 MWe}}{{Citation |title=Alvarado I Solar Power Project |url= http://www.nrel.gov/csp/solarpaces/project_detail.cfm/projectID=5 |date=April 30, 2009 |publisher=National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), U.S. Department of Energy |accessdate=2010-05-28}}{{Citation |title=Acciona Energy: Annual Report 2008 |url=http://annualreport2008.acciona.com/media/61324/Acciona_energy(pdf).pdf |format=PDF |page=12 |accessdate=2010-05-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707075946/http://annualreport2008.acciona.com/media/61324/Acciona_energy(pdf).pdf |archive-date=2011-07-07 |url-status=dead }}{{Citation |title=Acciona Reports #43 |url=http://www.acciona.com/media/200346/acciona_reports_43.pdf |format=PDF |page=6 |accessdate=2010-05-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100917065009/http://acciona.com/media/200346/acciona_reports_43.pdf |archive-date=2010-09-17 |url-status=dead }} and lays next to the La Florida solar thermal power station.

The facility is built on a {{Convert|1|km2|mi2|1|abbr=on}} site with a solar resource of {{nowrap|2,174 KWh/m²/year}}, producing an estimated {{nowrap|105,200 MWh}} of electricity per year (an average power of 12 MW). The plant uses parabolic trough technology, and is made up of 768 solar thermal collectors, with an output temperature of {{Convert|393|C|F|0|abbr=on}}, transferred with Biphenyl and Diphenyl oxide heat transfer agents.

A second {{nowrap|50 MWe}} facility, Alvarado II, is currently on the proposal stage. It is planned to be constructed in the same area as Alvarado I.