Archimede combined cycle power plant (also known as Centrale a ciclo combinato Archimede) is an integrated solar combined cycle (ISCC) power generation plant at Priolo Gargallo near Syracuse in Sicily, Italy.

The combined cycle section was inaugurated in 2003, and the solar field on 14 July 2010. The solar field is the first to use molten salt for heat transfer and storage which is integrated with the combined-cycle gas facility. It uses technology developed by ENEA and Archimede Solar Energy, a joint venture between Angelantoni Industrie and Siemens Energy. Archimede is owned and operated by Enel.

The plant is called “Archimedes” (the famous resident of the nearby Magna Graecia Hellenistic city of Syracuse) after the rows of huge parabolic mirrors used to capture the sun’s rays, which recall the “burning mirrors” that Archimedes is said to have used to set fire to the Roman ships besieging Syracuse during the Siege of Syracuse (214–212 BC). The existing gas-fired power plant is on about a 25 hectares site area (excluding the solar field), and is augmented by the 11 hectares Archimede solar field.

At first, the solar field was planned larger but in the end, it consists of a field of about 30,000 square meters of mirrors (the parabolic collectors) that concentrate sunlight onto 5,400 meters of pipe carrying the molten salt fluid. Molten salt is used as the heat transfer fluid in the solar fields and is heated to 550 °C (1,022 °F). The thermal energy is then stored in a hot tank and is used to produce high-pressure steam to run steam turbines for electricity generation, reducing the consumption of fossil fuels and, as a result, enhancing the environmental performance of the combined-cycle plant. The solar collectors (the parabolic mirrors and pipes or receivers), together with a steam generator and two heat storage tanks – one cold and one hot – make up the solar portion of the system.

When the sun shines, the thermal fluid drawn from the cold tank is circulated through the network of parabolic collectors, where it is heated to a temperature of 550 °C (1,022 °F) and injected into the hot tank, where the thermal energy is stored. The fluid is then drawn from the hot reservoir to produce steam at high pressure and temperature, which is sent to Enel’s nearby combined-cycle plant, where it contributes to electricity generation.

According to Wikipedia