The project constitutes a reference worldwide, it is the first solar thermal in the world that works with a cycle combined photovoltaic energy during the day, while at night, it will do so with the support of energy from biomass, in particular, remains of woodland, energy crops and agricultural waste as fuel.

This system achieves that production not confined only when there is sunlight. Ultimately, it balances the system so that it can produce energy throughout the day and night.

Les Borges Blanques thermosolar will be the first in Catalonia and the northern half of the Iberian Peninsula to produce electricity through solar radiation concentration system. It will feature an electrical power of 22.5 megawatts (MW), 10% of which provides for the plan of the Government of Catalonia, that, by 2020, wants to achieve the figure of 250 MW through this system.

In the rest of Spain there are some thirty installations, especially in Andalusia, Extremadura and Castile – La Mancha, Spain, in addition to other fifteen in construction. In 2013, is expected to generate more than 2,500 MW.

The head of the research group on energy for the environment of the University of Lleida (UdL), Joan Ignasi Rosell, explained that the regions of el llano (where is located the central of Les Borges Blanques) meet conditions for concentration plants. According to a study by the Center for energy research, environmental and Tecnológicas (Ciemat), indicated the area as one of which they had better solar radiation in Spain, second only to Almería.

According to Rosell, Cataluña it is losing a business opportunity by not betting clearly by solar energy. In the rest of the Spanish territory, the solar holds a position of leadership. Stimulate production, this energy is competitive even if subsidies are removed.

Therefore, are looking for solutions to make better use of this clean, renewable energy. SolarReserve company is developing a new technology which is based on a system of transfer of heat and a tower of thermal storage that can capture the energy with 17,500 heliostats (devices that, through a system of mirrors, can follow the path of the Sun). The project has received the momentum of the American Government.

Solar technology can be an alternative to the energy produced with coal or natural gas and nuclear power, says Kevin Smith, Chief Executive of SolarReserve. Just to increase their efficiency and to this task the company devotes its effort. Thanks to new technology, it will create a large amount of clean energy. The Obama Barak Government has approved a loan of more than EUR 500 million for the development of a plant of 110 MW of capacity in the State of Nevada.

According to data provided by the United States Department of energy, the new plant generate 500,000 MWh of energy annually, enough electricity to supply more than 40,000 homes.

The system is based on a tower of about 195 meters that can capture solar energy of up to 17,500 heliostats. But even more interesting is the ability to generate power during the night, when the Sun has disappeared. To generate power at night, inside the thermal storage Tower, there are a number of molten salts that are heated above 500 ° C during the day and spin a turbine during the night. The movement of these turbines generate electricity.

Ever get a better efficiency in renewable energies and overcome problems such as generating energy through the night. In the same way, build bigger and better energy offered to us by the wind, tides, waves, which are in the interior of the Earth Renewables have much future.

Solar Decathlon Europe, from 8 to 11 May and in the framework of the Construtec trade fair, will expose twenty models of homes participating in this 2012 Edition. They are reproductions at the level of the energy-sustainable buildings that will work exclusively with solar energy and build life-size to in September, display them in the Casa de Campo of Madrid, where you can visit for free. Live, the greatest advances in solar technology and energy efficiency will see.

There are more activities envisaged in Construtec in relation to the proper use of the energy in buildings, such as the I Congress of buildings energy almost Nula (EECN). This event seeks to how to achieve buildings that consume little energy in a horizon of less than ten years.

This first edition of the Congress is held with the aim of becoming a discussion forum to address the implications which will be the adoption of the European directive on the energy efficiency of buildings in the sector of construction, architecture and related services.

Solar Decathlon Europe also held the second edition of the multi-disciplinary teams in residential projects – sustainable building – programme. It is intended to give a vision of the sustainable building projects from the point of view of the different actors involved therein.

All these activities of Solar Decathlon Europe, framed within the international construction week, are part of the main objective of the project: promoting research and development in sustainable construction and educate the population about the efficient use of renewable and clean energy.

That subsidies are over doesn’t mean that you stop the development of the power clean. In fact, it is more necessary than ever. But it must be accompanied by a greater demand citizen, to generate a higher production of this type of energy and, in this way, there will be a decrease in costs. The law of supply and demand combined with technological innovation.

The study of the Cajamar Foundation, titled, solar energy in Spain, ensures that the Spanish industry is competitive internationally, especially in the segments of photovoltaic and thermal energy.

Companies who lead the list of operators by power are Spanish: ACS-Cobra and Abengoa Solar, Acciona energy. Spanish factories in strategic, such as United States, Mexico, Romania, Canada or Portugal countries have been installed.

The Spanish companies in the sector are among which produced the most efficient photovoltaic modules. Now it works in niche markets such as the manufacture of modules tailored to be integrated into buildings, single-family or to water pump housing.

These business opportunities require a greater social awareness and the drafting of rules to promote the integration of photovoltaic modules in facades of buildings, window or, even on the roofs of cars. We cannot waste the energy provided by the Sun. The efficiency of solar energy has increased in the last eleven years, 30%.

Another sub-sector to take into account is the thermoelectric. He is expected that you for the next year, generate 1,220 megawatts (MW). On the other hand, the Plan of action for renewable energies of Spain (PANER) aims at that, by the year 2020, the MW 5.079 are achieved.

The wind turbine has been developed and patented by Geolica Innovations, marketed by the company Kliux Energies and installed by the research center of resources and energy consumption (Circe) of the University of Zaragoza. The purpose is to optimize the functioning of a mini wind turbine vertical axis and demonstrate the capacity of this type of technology for use in electric micro.

The project will be completed in June 2014. Until then, Kliux Energies-Geólica Innovations will investigate how to optimize the performance of the whole turbina-generador at low speeds of wind (between 3 and 3.5 meters per second), the efficiency of the various electronic components and their connection to load. In addition, the wind turbine will be integrated with other sources of renewable energy, such as solar photovoltaics, to form a microrred.

This wind turbine differs from the traditional wind mills because of its small size (nine meters), permanent orientation to wind and a silent operation. It will work on its improvement, in the design of power electronics, developing improvements in the generator and electrical components, to increase the performance and efficiency of the entire system.

To achieve objectives, the Research Centre planned for the installation of wind turbines vertical axis in four different demonstrators, the now premiered in Zaragoza and two in La Rioja. The fourth location is yet to be decided.

According to experts of Circe, in a few years, domestic wind turbines would pave the way to a sort of internet energy, in which any user can buy and sell power in the same way as, at present, and until that power groups do not impede it, you can upload and download information to the network.

Germany, Israel, Thailand and Brazil develop similar initiatives in which combines solar energy from other renewable sources, such as biomass or biogas. The aim is clear: ensure the production of energy 24 hours a day. But, in addition, get energy from small and decentralized plants. Solarlite and Sialsol, in Badajoz, built another hybrid solar thermal-biomass in Spain. Can this mixture be the more profitable in the short term?

The German company Solarlite is one of the pioneers in the subsector of plants hybrid solar thermal-biomass. This company and Sialsol to develop the plant of Badajoz. Likewise, it promotes the project Tresert, a plant of trigeneration in the School of Renewable Energy Technology (SERT) of the University of Naresuan, in Phitsanulok, Thailand, the project shows how technology can provide a decentralized supply of electricity, heating and cooling in rural areas of Southeast Asia. The majority of these types of plants is still in phase of experimentation. They need funding and public support to ensure its viability.

Solarlite has, since 2007, a plant in Woltow (Germany), with a field of nine parabolic collectors of 25 m hibridados with a central of biomass in a farm. In the case of the Thailand of 500 thermal kW and 50 kW electrical plant, works the Ministry of environment, nature conservation and Nuclear safety of Germany.

The plant of Aora Solar in the PSA (170 thermal kW and 100 kW electric) has reached a collaboration agreement with the Research Center to evaluate the system, determine their parameters of performance and operation, and define possible improvements in all its components. Aora Solar technology, called Tulip hybrid system, operates in a facility located in Kibbutz Samar, Israel, who, like Almería, admits biogas, biodiesel and natural gas as supplementary fuels.

The research work began in 2011 under the name “Algae fuels Business Technology Consortium of biofuels from microalgae in the regions of the North of Chile”. The objective is to incorporate energy sources of Chile own production and a new renewable biofuel production.

The researchers Patrick Maple and Monica Vasquez are in charge of scientific knowledge related to the metabolic and molecular characterization of a selection of strains of microalgae for biodiesel production. They characterized the lipid metabolism in terms of the type and quantity of fatty acids produced by microalgae. Then, identify the key genes responsible for the regulation of this pathway, analyzing the microbiological safety of lipid extraction resulting meal, to take advantage of that waste of the process for animal feed.

This project counts with the collaboration of a team of the Faculty of engineering responsible for the development of procedures for harvesting and extraction of biomass of microalgae experimental pilot plant. There also will be established an industrial demonstrative plant of production of oil from microalgae.

Strategically, have been associated in this project private companies E-CL S.A., Copec S.A., Rentapack S.A. and other technological entities such as the Catholic University or Bioscan S.A. Meets, therefore a full strategic, scientific technological and sales team, which will contribute to the success of the project and its sustainability in the long term.

The research will have a duration of five years. It is expected that a collection of the best strains of microalgae and expertise for the production of microalgal biomass is then available. Also want to take advantage of the natural conditions of the northern Chile desert where is carried out the project, which will use CO2 on an industrial scale for the production of oil to produce biodiesel liquid and flour for animal feed industry.

In Turkana work, since more than twenty years ago, a group of missionaries who know that energy is an indispensable condition for out of poverty. With the collaboration of the Rose Foundation, the box of savings of Mediterranean and Sonkyo Energy they have installed an electrogenic hybrid system in the village.

The Spanish company is directly responsible for the design of the floating platform and provides for their installation and the wind turbine that her Royal in the second half of the year 2013. The floating platform will be about two miles away from the Mainland and will be anchored with chains to the seabed in an area in which lies at a depth of 100 meters.

A Norwegian delegation, composed of representatives of various companies and technological centers, visited the channel of hydrodynamic experiences of El Pardo (Cehipar), Acciona where last tests of its prototype of floating platform into a tank of artificial waves. Among the representatives of various companies and technological centres, some of Innovation Norway, the official body of the Norwegian Government for supporting industrial and entrepreneurial innovation. Olav Olsen and the Norway University of science and technology, NTNU and other entities involved in the HiPRWind project. In Norway was installed the first floating wind turbine in the world.

The platform developed by Acciona will be partially submerged and consists of three columns. Each of these columns is far from the other more than thirty metres. Legs measure about twenty meters high and have a diameter of 14 metres at the base and six meters in the highest part.

Acciona builds the platform in Avilés, from where will be transported by a ship tug, in the summer of 2013, until the Bimep (Biscay Marine Energy Platform), Basque marine laboratory located offshore, designed for research, demonstration and exploitation of catchment systems of energy of the waves in the open ocean. The multidisciplinary research team is composed by ten Spanish researchers, with an average age of approximately 29 years.
A height of 60 meters

The platform that purchase Acciona in the Bimep will hold a wind turbines of 1.5 MW of power which will be sixty metres above the sea level. Some experts predict that the future wind turbines can offer more than 10 MW. Acciona wants to overcome the technological gap that exists between small-scale tests and full-scale wind developments.

He is to reduce risks and costs of wind technology in water exceeding 40 metres deep, which is where they are located in the future wind turbines the wind marina. Spain holds a stake highlighted in the project, which will benefit our country’s accession to an emerging market whose investment accumulated up to 2030 could exceed 200 billion euros worldwide.

Within the HiPRWind project, work in two ways: design the floating structure and anchoring systems, reducing its weight by up to 40% at the moment; and, secondly, making wind turbines, wind turbines and, ultimately, to improve power generation systems.

Also examines the operation of the installation, how they behave the structure and the turbine, which control systems are needed, network connection, remote maintenance, design of blades and rotor, and other concepts of machine. Ultimately, Acciona develops an intense r & d activity in offshore wind energy.

The HiPRWind project is part of the 7.º programme framework of research of the European Union (EU) and has a budget of 19.8 million euros, of which the EU provides eleven. Five of nineteen members of the project are Spanish companies, contributing more than 50% of the total budget: Acciona energy, Acciona Windpower, ideas (engineering and Asturian metal sector manufacturer), Vicinay chains (which specializes in anchor chains) and Tecnalia (the largest technological Center private Spain).

The wind marina is a sector led by Europe (mainly in the Baltic and the North Sea), where there are more than 3,500 MW installed, nearly all the wind power marine in the world (3.616 MW). On land, there are almost 200,000 MW installed worldwide. Forecasts point to a dramatic growth of wind Navy over the next decade, which is expected to reach 75,000 marine MW, of which more than 52,000 MW will be located in Europe.

In the autumn of 2012 will be located a second wind turbine in the sea, on the Belgian coast, as reported by the company itself. Series production is planned for 2013, starting marketing between 2013 and 2014.

The apparatus has been christened Heliade 150 and breaks all records by its dimensions. It has a 150 meters in diameter rotor. It is the largest sweep surface wind turbine installed to date. These 6 MW of power placed 150 Heliade in the select club of giant wind turbines of three German companies: Enercon, Repower and Siemens. Meanwhile, other companies in the sector, such as Vestas, Nordex, Gamesa and GE, are also developing similar machines.

Heliade 150 has a direct drive generator. Its rotor is composed of two blades of 73.5 metres in length, the largest installed to date and produced in collaboration with the Danish specialist technologist LM. This size improves performance by 15% over similar characteristics, according to Alstom turbines.

Each of these wind turbines will be capable of generating the energy needed to supply 5,000 households.

The prototype just opening has been in operation to develop all the tests and validations prior to its marketing and mass production. The connection to the network is scheduled for late April or may.

Haliade 150 has been located in a place where there are regular wind over the year and optimal conditions for the certification process. It will be directly exposed to the winds from the Atlantic in conditions virtually identical to offshore sites where you install in the future. Expected that, French coasts, will generate 3 GW of wind Navy by 2015.