Abengoa has reportedly marked an investment worth $1.35 billion a year over the next few years on solar thermal  energy plants.

The development was attributed to Abengoa Solar Spain's chief executive Pedro Robles in a report by Reuters.

"Our objective is to build around 10 new (thermal solar energy plants) in the next five years," reportedly said Robles.

He said next year the firm will start two plants in Ecija in Seville, with a capacity of 100 megawatts, and will finish two out of three plants it is building in Sanlucar.

It will also start work on building a plant in Arizona, in the US, which will have capacity of 280 MW, the firm's largest project yet. This project is the result of the contract which Abengoa Solar has signed with Arizona Public Service (APS).

For the Solar Business Unit, this contract represents the construction of the first concentrating solar power plant for producing electric power in the US. The plant will be installed about 100 kilometers southwest of Phoenix, near Gila Bend. Solana, with 280 MWe of power output capacity, is based on parabolic trough technology and thermal storage using molten salts. When operation starts up, the plant will have the capacity to supply power to 70,000 homes and will eliminate around 400,000 tons of CO2.

Recently, Abengoa had also indicated that it plans to make a bid to participate in a 500 megawatt solar power plant in Abu Dhabi. "We will be lodging a bid for the tender next month and we're optimistic about winning this contract," Robles had reportedly said.