UAE, Spain plan €800m solar plants

The joint venture, named Torresol Energy, aims to build plants that use technology that concentrate solar power, known as CSP plants, Masdar said.

The companies plan to license the technology for CSP plants capable of generating 500 megawatts of power in regions of the world where it is sunny by 2012, Masdar said.

The joint venture is called Torresol Energy, and will be 60 percent owned by Sener and 40 per cent owned by Masdar.

Independently of Torresol Energy, Masdar is developing CSP plants in Abu Dhabi and aims to complete its first plant in the the UAE in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Sener is a Bilbao-based privately-owned engineering and technology group. Masdar is owned by the government of Abu Dhabi and has plans to spend $15 billion on developing sustainable, clean energy.

Abu Dhabi is the centre of the UAE's oil and gas production and holds over 90 percent of the country's oil reserves. The UAE is the world's fifth-largest oil exporter.  (Reuters)