Torresol Energy, an alliance between SENER and Masdar for the promotion of major CSP plants around the world, will take part once again in the World Future Energy Summit that will be hosted in Abu Dhabi (UAE) from January 20 to 22, bringing together the main actors in the renewable energy sector worldwide.

In a shared booth, SENER’s Engineering and Construction division and Torresol Energy will be presenting solar thermal innovative projects and technologies. Besides, for the first time, SENER will be showing its capabilities in waste to energy (WTE) processes, with projects such as the Zabalgarbi WTE plant, in Spain, that has become an international reference for the efficient treatment and management of municipal solid waste. In this plant – which works with a SENER patented process – SENER is shareholder (30%) and was responsible for the basic engineering, detail engineering and participated in the EPC contract. This plant will be presented at WFES during the TechTalk sessions by the Proposal Manager for WTE and BTE power plants at SENER, Fernando González, in the conference ‘Delivering high efficiency through combined cycle technology and further developments’.

Among the CSP projects, it will once again stand out the Gemasolar central tower power plant with molten salt storage system, the only solar facility in the world capable to produce electricity round the clock. Last summer, for the first time ever, Gemasolar has achieved continuous production operating 24 hours per day for 36 consecutive days. Also the Valle 1 & Valle 2 solar thermal plants, of parabolic trough technology and molten salt storage system. The three plants have been built by SENER with in-house technology and are owned by Torresol Energy and operated by its subsidiary Torresol O&M that specializes in the operation and maintenance of both central tower and parabolic trough collectors units.

Besides, SENER will be also presenting its latest developments for CSP plants such as the SENERtrough®-2 system for parabolic trough plants. This system is based on the SENERtrough® technology patented by SENER, but this new version is larger in size than its predecessor. It has been designed to reduce the solar field cost, while maintaining its operational efficiency. The aperture surface of the SENERtrough®-2 is 28% larger than that of the SENERtrough®-1, which enables a reduction in the number of troughs needed to capture the same amount of thermal energy in the solar field. The reduction in the total number of troughs, the optimisation of their basic parameters (aperture, focal distance and length) and the design of its components result in an overall reduction of the solar field cost. This new development incorporates the knowledge acquired by SENER in the construction of 25 CSP plants, most of them as EPC projects, leading therefore the world market in technological development, design and construction of solar thermal plants.

In the WTE field, SENER will be presenting the Zabalgarbi patented WTE process, the SENER-2 technology, a high-efficiency thermodynamic cycle capable of working in the Waste Boiler steam side at high pressures of around 100 bar and low temperatures, below 350°C. This successfully halted the corrosion while simultaneously optimizing the plant's operation and maintenance costs. Besides, Zabalgarbi incorporates a gas turbine whose exhaust gases are conducted to a heat recovery boiler that makes it possible to maximize the steam temperature to the power cycle. This allows the plant to reach 100 MWe in electrical power with an energy efficiency of around 50% for a waste capacity of 30 t/h (8,000 kJ/kg). It is worth mentioning that Zabalgarbi has been working at full capacity since 2004, with an excellent operation balance.

Information regarding all these projects will be available at Torresol Energy and SENER’s booth:

Torresol Energy and SENER in WFES 2014
Booth 6510, ADNEC
January 20 to 22, Abu Dhabi