Fuentes de Andalucía receives the Clean Technologies
Recognition
The Fuentes de Andalucía City Hall has received the Clean Technologies Recognition in
the XVII edition of the Ones Mediterrània awards, given out each year by the foundation
Mediterrània-CIE.
The company Torresol Energy, a promotor of concentrated solar power plants, is finishing startup for the Gemasolar plant in this town in the Seville region. It is the first commercial plant in the
world with central tower receiver technology and molten salt storage system, whose
technological innovations were developed by SENER, who also is leading the construction of
this advanced thermosolar plant. Once in operation, Gemasolar will supply clean and safe
energy to 25,000 homes and will reduce CO2 emissions by more than 30,000 tons per year. Its
novel technology, which significantly increases plant efficiency, marks a starting point within the
cost reduction strategy in the thermosolar energy industry, a key objective both for SENER and
for Torresol Energy, to make this clean energy a firm alternative to fossil fuels.
This renewable energy project has created more than 1,000 direct jobs throughout its
construction, and will generate 50 qualified job posts once completed for its operation and
maintenance. Many of these job posts, around 40% of the entire crew, were filled with
inhabitants from the Seville municipality, who were trained in Electromechanics in an
employment workshop organized by the City Hall.
With this purpose, Torresol Energy carried out very active tracking on the municipality’s initiative
and, with the approval of the Employment Council of the Government of Andalusia, adapted the
agenda to the content of the Training Plan that the company designed for its personnel.
Additionally, it actively collaborated by giving specific courses, promoting visits and internships
at Gemasolar, integrating the workshop crew into the two-month-long theoretical-practical
training carried out in the plant’s facilities.
Awarding this XVII Ones Mediterrània Award means a recognition of the City Hall’s work toward
promoting clean energies and respecting the environment with many initiatives, such as clean
water, green zones, nurseries for training, education and investment, sustainable social
gardens… Amongst all of these initiatives, Gemasolar stands out, the first commercial scale
solar plant constructed in the world with central tower technology and a heliostat field with
molten salt storage system, technology which allows for increasing plant efficiency. Its
innovative technology has awakened great interest in the thermal solar energy industry, and its
entrance into commercial operation, which will happen throughout 2011, will be a world-wide
milestone.
Since the beginning of this project, Torresol Energy has maintained a close collaboration with
the Fuentes de Andalucía City Hall, which has materialized in initiatives to promote a culture of
renewable energies within the muncipality. For example, Torresol Energy has been actively
involved in the two editions of ¨Renewable energies and sustainable development days¨, a
project to sensitize and train, organised annually by the City Hall, highlighted by the Ones
Mediterrània award. In both editions, Torresol Energy was a sponsor of the event, and formed
part of the organizational committee, in addition to being present in the presentations and
organizing guided visits of the plant as an active agent in the sustainable development of
Fuentes de Andalucía.
About Torresol Energy
Torresol Energy, an alliance between the companies SENER and MASDAR, was created for the purpose
of becoming a leader in the concentrated solar power (CSP) sector, with the goal of promoting
technological development and the operation of large concentrated solar power plants around the world,
especially in the so-called “solar belt”: Southern Europe, including Spain, Northern Africa, the Middle East
and the Southwestern USA.
Every new Torresol Energy project will introduce and test new technologies with SENER’s support in order
to make Concentrated Solar Power an economically competitive option and thus make it a real, viable,
ecological and sustainable alternative to traditional energy. In this regard, the protection of the
environment for future generations is one of Torresol Energy's core commitments.
The company is currently building three plants in Spain: Valle 1 and Valle 2, two twin installations with
cylindrical parabolic collector technology, 50 MW each one, located in San José del Valle, in the province
of Cadiz, and is finishing start-up of the 17 MW Gemasolar Plant with central tower technology and
heliostat field being built in Fuentes de Andalucía, in Seville.
www.torresolenergy.com
Further information: Oihana Casas. Communication Office. SENER Ingeniería y Sistemas.
Tel (+34) 91 807 7318 / 679 314 085