This solar trough project has a relatively high capacity factor at 37.7%. This turns out to be because they installed a thermal reservoir that captures heat from the daytime and uses it to continue making electricity for more than 7 hours after the sun has set or clouded over.
Actual Power = Nameplate Power x Capacity Factor
56.4 MW = 149.7 MW x 0.377
The total area of the array is 600 hectares (a hectare is 100 m x 100 m = 1.104 m2). By simple multiplication the total area is 600.104 m2 = 6.106 m2. Because this is already in m2 there is no worry about unit conversion - whew!
Power Density = Average Power/Total Area
9.33 W/m2 = 56.4 MW/6.106 m2 = 9.4 W/ m2
This is fairly typical for solar trough projects. Notice that it is 3x that of wind and 1.5x that for solar PV. A potentially more efficient use of our land resources.
Cost/MW Installed Capacity:
In the text of the wiki it asserts that the cost to construct the Andasol facility was $380 M (million) for the first portion of the system (50 MW). Subsequent portions (Andasol 2 and 3) had the same costs. Using the constuction costs for Andasol 1 we find....
Cost/MW = total cost/nameplate power
7.60 $/W= 380 M$/50 MW
On the other hand it is probably more meaningful to determine the cost/delivered power. The delivered power is 38% of the nameplate capacity (capacity factor).
Cost/MW = total cost/delivered power
20.21 $/W= 380 M$/(50 MW x .38)
Compared to traditional power plants at roughly 1 $/W this is quite a high initial investment.
