Wind Energy

AKO continues to add Concentrating Solar Power projects with the awarding of La Africana Plant

AKO, the leading Spanish company in Temperature Regulation and Control using Electrical Heat-Tracing solutions, was awarded in March the supply and installation of its AKOTRACE® turnkey solution for the heat storage system of the La Africana Solar Thermal Plant project, where building has already started, so that it is fully up and running in the Andalusian province of Cordoba (Spain) at the end of the year.

After approximately one year of research work to draft, prepare and present the Technical-financial study of this thermo-electrical project, led by the undertakings TSK, GRUPO ORTIZ and MAGTEL and promoted by the engineering firm INGEMAS e IDOM, AKO, consolidated as the leader in the sector with its Electrical Heat-Tracing cable technology for parabolic trough and concentration tower solar thermal power plants, has added the La Africana plant to its reference project portfolio.

The main feature of the La Africana concentrated solar thermal power plant, with parabolic trough collectors for 168 loops, is its capacity for storing energy using molten salts and solar tracking, capable of supplying electricity currently consumed by around 30,000 Andalusian households.

AKO is embarking on the project with the required precision and high degree of demand, highlighting its main qualities that are its relationship and proximity to the customer, flexibility and capacity to be able to carry out different facilities at the same time.

AKO has developed for this project its turnkey AKOTRACE® solution demonstrating its extensive know-how and experience and guaranteeing the criticality of the Electrical Heat-Tracing in these types of plants, guaranteeing the circulation of the molten salt fluid at high temperatures, to prevent non-desired stoppages of the facility, as well as providing its technological heater proposal for pumps and valves and its control and monitoring system.

In recent years, the company has undertaken the Electrical Heat-Tracing projects of many Spanish Concentrating Solar Thermal Power Plants, including Andasol I, II and III (Granada), Extresol I and II (Badajoz), Manchasol I and II (Ciudad Real), Gemasolar (Seville), Valle I and II (Cadiz), Lebrija I (Seville) and Samcasol I and II (Badajoz) with excellent results obtained from the participation and involvement of AKO’s specialised team, providing the best quality standards that guarantee the correct operation of the plant when finished, and its subsequent start-up.

It is currently executing other projects that are also large-scale projects such as Extresol III (Badajoz), Astexol II (Badajoz), Aste 1A and 1B (Ciudad Real), Consol-Orellana (Badajoz), being extremely relevant its over 30 years experience, which allows it to continue to position itself as one of the leading companies in the thermoelectric solar energy area.

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