The company imposes on other nine prestigious European firms, and wins the prize in the Innovation category
Barcelona, November 23 - SENER has obtained the final prize in the Innovation category at the
European Business Awards, thanks to its Gemasolar project. SENER has been selected upon other nine companies, all of them finalists to this prize, in a long selection process started in May 2011. More than
15,000 European companies have put themselves forward as candidates to these awards.
This prize comes after the pre-selection announcement, in June 2011, of SENER and its Gemasolar project, along with other 24 Spanish companies, as country representatives in a first stage. SENER obtained the Ruban d’Honneur recognition in July 2011. From the 110 companies which obtained the
Ruban d’Honeur, only one in each category from the 11 existing has got the final prize.
The final awards ceremony took place on 22 nd November in Barcelona (Spain). SENER Vice President,
Andrés Sendagorta, picked up this international award and thanked the recognition with the following words: This award is an example that the change in the model that we need is possible. It is, also, an encouragement for SENER, to improve our society through our contribution in the technology and industrial field and, particularly, to achieve a competitive and efficient solar thermal energy”
European Business Awards has distinguished SENER among all the European companies for the development, from its first design until its construction, start – up, commissioning and commercial operation, of the most innovative solar plant in the world, to date, in commercial operation, Gemasolar.
This plant, promoted by the company Torresol Energy (60% owned by the SENER group, 40% owned by
Masdar) and located in the village of Fuentes de Andalucía in Seville, is the first commercial plant in the world with central tower receiver technology and a molten salt heat storage system. This system allows producing energy throughout 15 hours without sunlight; in other words, a clean source such as solar energy can become manageable, as this plant can deliver power to the grid according to the demand, even at night or during cloudy weather.
SENER has been responsible for supplying all the technology and all the engineering for Gemasolar, leading the EPC, start – up and commissioning works of the plant. Gemasolar has leaded the way to a new
CSP production technology that can become the best alternative possible, because it has the highest potential in technological development, as well as in the reduction of generation costs. Therefore,
Gemasolar is considered a technological milestone, and it will be a model for the success of future solar plants.
Currently, SENER is the only company in the world that has developed a project with these features.
Gemasolar has made a great impact, both in the society and in the industry sectors. Two royal houses presided its official opening: His Majesty the King of Spain Juan Carlos I and His Highness General Sheikh
Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
Más información:
Oihana Casas. Comunicación. SENER Tel (+34) 91 807 7318 / 679 314 085 www.sener.es

The prestigious European Business Awards identify some of Europe’s brightest businesses based on their ability to demonstrate the three core principles at the heart of the Awards program: innovation, business excellence and sustainability. The European Business Awards objective is to raise the visibility and progress of companies who excel in delivering innovation twinned with successful commercial results whilst acting responsibly and positively affecting the social environment they operate in.
SENER is a private engineering and technology group founded in 1956 in Bilbao, which seeks to offer its clients the most advanced technological solutions and which enjoys international recognition, thanks to its independence and its commitment to innovation and quality. SENER has a workforce of more than 5,000 professionals and a turnover of 1,066 million Euros.
SENER engages in the specific activities of engineering, and also has industrial holdings in companies involved in Energy and
Environment, as well as Aerospace. The Engineering Division, SENER Ingeniería y Sistemas, S.A. is an engineering, construction and systems integration company which has become one of the leading Spanish engineering firms, with a turnover of more than
624 million Euros, around 2,000 employees and offices in Abu Dhabi, Algiers, Barcelona, Bilbao, Buenos Aires, Lisbon, Madrid,
Mexico City, Okayama, San Francisco, Seville, Valencia and Warsaw.
Torresol Energy, a joint venture 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.
Currently, the Company has a plant in commercial operation, Gemasolar, a 19.9 MW solar power plant with central tower technology and a heliostat field, located in Fuentes de Andalucía, Seville. It has also two other plants about to start commercial operation, Valle 1 and Valle 2, two twin 50 MW facilities with parabolic trough technology, located in Cádiz
(Spain).
Vínculos www.sener.es www.torresolenergy.com www.businessawardseurope.com
Más información:
Oihana Casas. Comunicación. SENER Tel (+34) 91 807 7318 / 679 314 085 www.sener.es