Gemasolar concentrated solar energy plant at WFES 2011

The World Future Energy Summit, that will take place in Abu Dhabi between January 17th and 20th, is nowadays the world’s foremost and must-attend annual meeting for the renewable energy and environment industry. During this summit, SENER and Torresol Energy will share a 50 sqm booth where they will show some of the main projects of both companies: SENER’s leading technology in Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) and the plants that Torresol Energy is currently promoting, all of them with SENER’s engineering. Besides, SENER Managing Director, Jorge Unda, will be taking part as a speaker in the ‘New Innovations in Solar Technology’ session that will be held on Wednesday 19 January at the Summit.

SENER takes part, once again, in this event to show its capacities in solar technology, where it has become a leading company both for the development of innovative solutions and for the number of projects under development. The engineering projects in the field of CSP, successfully carried out by SENER, add up to a total of 15, which will have a total installed power of 1 GWe once construction has finished. Most of these plants use a molten salts storage system that allows them to continue producing electricity at night or during cloudy weather, turning a renewable source like solar energy into a dispatchable energy, capable of supplying electricity in line with demand, unlike other technologies such as wind power, which has no storage option.

Among these projects are the three innovative plants of Torresol Energy, a joint venture between SENER and Masdar to promote large CSP plants around the world, allowing SENER to exploit its own technology. The Gemasolar project stands out, as the first commercial plant in the world to use central tower receiver technology with a heat storage system. Promoted by Torresol Energy, the constructions works have already been completed and is now under the start-up and commissioning phase, the last one before its commercial operation. Located in Seville, once built, in 2011, the plant will be able to supply clean and secure energy to 25,000 households and reduce CO2 emissions by more than 30,000 tons a year.

The technological significance of Gemasolar, the flagship project of the engineering group, has received several international awards and it is, nowadays, Torresol Energy’s main feature. Gemasolar’s technology will be represented at WFES with a big tower in the center of the booth. The CCP technology will also be shown, that is applied in Torresol Energy’s Valle 1 and Valle 2 projects, located in Cadiz (Andalusia, Spain), whose construction works continues to progress as expected.

Besides, SENER will be showing some of its main innovations in CSP, such as the molten salts system, used as heat transfer fluid and as storage system, or the design of the cylindrical-parabolic collectors SENERtrough.

SENER & TORRESOL ENERGY AT WFES 2011
Booth 6220, ADNEC
January 17th to 20th, Abu Dhabi

The World Future Energy Summit, held annually in Abu Dhabi, is an initiative developed by Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s multi-billion dollar investment in the development and commercialization of innovative technologies in renewable energies.

SENER is a private engineering and technology group founded in Bilbao in 1956 which seeks to offer its clients state-of-the-art technological solutions and enjoys international prestige for its commitment to innovation, quality and for its independence. SENER employs over 4,900 professionals and has a turnover of 937M€. SENER accomplishes engineering activities and has industrial holdings in companies working in the fields of Energy and the Environment, as well as Aerospace.

The Engineering Area, SENER Ingeniería y Sistemas, S.A., is an engineering, construction and systems integration company which has become one of the largest Spanish engineering firms with a turnover of more than 498 M€, around 2,600 employees and offices in Abu Dhabi, Algiers, Barcelona, Bilbao, Buenos Aires, Lisbon, Madrid, Mexico City, Okayama, San Francisco, Seville, Valencia and Warsaw.

Through its Energy and Environment Area, SENER has promoted different projects in which it has stock options and contributes with its own technology, as is the case of Torresol Energy. Other initiatives in renewable energies and waste to energy are Zabalgarbi, TRACJUSA, Valpuren Comatur and Valpuren Bañuelo.

A joint venture between the companies SENER and MASDAR, Torresol Energy was set up with the aim of becoming a global leader in the Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) sector, promoting the development and operation of large-scale CSP plants throughout the world – especially in the “sun belt”: southern Europe, including Spain, North Africa, the Middle East and the south-west United States.

At the same time, each of Torresol Energy’s new projects will introduce and test new technologies to make CSP an economically competitive option and a real, viable, ecological and sustainable alternative to traditional energy sources. In this regard, conserving the environment for future generations is one of Torresol Energy’s foundational commitments.

www.sener.es