24 ENERGY • ACS-Cobra

ACS COBRA
www.grupocobra.com
2 ENERGY • ACS-Cobra

ACS-Cobra 002
Energy Innovations
on a Global Scale
JANUARY 2010 • The International Resource Journal 3
 JANUARY 2010 • The International Resource Journal 5

The thermal solar industry may have been

gathering weight and recognition as of late,
but now a new breakthrough from Cobra,
a Madrid-based arm of the ACS Group,
the international expert engineering,
operations, installation and maintenance
services company, is set to pave the way for
realizing the operational potential of this
renewable energy resource.
6 ENERGY • ACS-Cobra
ACS-Cobra has achieved dispatchable solar ther-
mal power through its heat storage facilities be-
ginning with its landmark power plant, Andasol 1,
near Guadix in Granada, Spain. Andasol signals a
new chapter for solar thermal and our worldwide
ability to store renewable power and, consequent-
ly, achieve a virtually zero carbon electricity supply.
Jose Alfonso Nebrera, Director General of ACS-
Cobra, spoke to IRJ about what Andasol means for
solar thermal, for the 2020 renewable energy tar-
gets, for the cooperation of the international power
market and the other ground-breaking projects in
development at ACS-Cobra.
Developing ACS-Cobra and ESTELA.
Nebrera has been working in the energy business
since completing his studies in engineering in
1974. During this time, he has seen the evolu-
 Engineering Execution of turn key projects
Manufacturing of capital goods and erection and maintenance of industrial facilities

Among the activities developed by IMASA for ACS – COBRA Group, we can highlight the following:

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“IMASA has departments specialised in the supply and erection of thermal

and acoustic insulation and refractories”.

Imasa Ingeniería y Proyectos, S.A.

Palacio Valdés, 1
33002 – Oviedo (Asturias – Spain)
tel: +34 985 51 18 83 www.imasa.com
8 ENERGY • ACS-Cobra
tion of ACS-Cobra from an excellent, but relatively
small, local contractor, to a world leader in energy
related construction and services. In the last few
years, he devoted a large portion of his time to
the C.S.P. industry, as co-founder of Protermoso-
lar; the Spanish Concentrated Solar Power Indus-
try Association, and ESTELA, or, the European
Solar Thermal Electricity Association (of which he
is president today).
“I started in the construction of nuclear
power plants for a large portion of my career,
and I started working for Cobra back in 1988.
I’ve been in the company for more than 21
years now. Cobra became part of the ACS Group
around 1992, and from that moment on, I’ve
been involved in the ACS energy business,”
he recalls.
“We first started here in Spain by promoting
the Andasol plants which we took over from So-
lar Millennium in around 2003. They were trying
to develop the projects, but they didn’t have the
financial capacity or technical credibility with
the Spanish authorities to create the proper
legal framework.”
JANUARY 2010 • The International Resource Journal 9
10 ENERGY • ACS-Cobra

ACS-Cobra made an agreement with Solar

Millennium and subsequently, through the then
just born Protermosolar, created by ACS, SENER
[SENER Ingeniería y Sistemas S.A] and Abengoa
Solar, agreed with the Spanish ministry on the
legal framework to make the promotion of Anda-
sol and other plants possible with the necessary
level of feed-in tariff.
“By 2007, and following a suggestion from
Schott Solar, we decided that it was a good time
to start a new European association for the im-
merging solar thermal industry, which we called
ESTELA, and I became the president at that
time,” Nebrera says.
“ESTELA is now one of the main parties to
discuss solar thermal related issues with the
European Union institutions. We have a lot of in-
terchange with the European Commission. That
means that the president has to spend a lot of
his time with ESTELA activities, which means
that probably 30 per cent of my time is spent
with ESTELA.”
Today, ESTELA takes part in the discussion,
development and promotion of a multitude of solar
thermal issues, both within Europe and worldwide,
including the leadership of the Solar Industry
Initiative of the E.U. Strategic Energy Plan, multiple
contributions to the Mediterranean Solar Plan or
the development of a C.S.P. Cost Roadmap.
JANUARY 2010 • The International Resource Journal 11
12 ENERGY • ACS-Cobra
“The activity and role of ESTELA is more
intense than ever before, and it will grow as
energy becomes more and more of a priority for
the E.U. political, social and economy scenario,”
Nebrera says.
ACS-Cobra’s renewable energy projects
Nebrera says that for the most part, ACS-Cobra’s
energy projects are executed within the compa-
ny’s industrial branch, ACS S.C.E.
“A large portion of our €7.5 billion per year
revenue is in the world of energy—electricity,
gas, virtually any aspect of the energy business.
A large and growing portion of that is our work
within renewables. From a renewables point of
view, we are very much involved in wind farms
and C.S.P. We have something like 1.3 gigabytes
of wind farms in operation, mainly in Spain,
and we’re promoting projects in other countries
around the world,” he explains.
“We’re presently one of the main owners
[companies] of thermal solar. We have 150 MW
of thermal solar plants operating, the two Anda-
sol and one Extresol plant. In fact, we’re the only
company with dispatchable thermal solar plants
operating, and I guess we’ll be this way for the next
year or so.”
Nebrera says that there are plants being
built in Spain which come complete with stor-
age, however those will not be finished until
around the end of 2010. Meanwhile, ACS-Cobra
continues to build and improve on its own solar
thermal plant projects.
“We are building another four plants of the
same kind and with the same characteristics, with
incremental improvements in technology and cost
reduction, with a total investment in the seven
plants of more than €2 billion,” Nebrera says.
“Simultaneously, we’re working on the design
of the next generation of plants that will contain
different features from the ones we’re building
now. We’re not linked to any particular technolo-
gies. For example, we’re working in one tower pow-
er plant in association with SENER, which is being
built in the Seville province for Torresol, a company
owned by SENER and MASDAR from Abu Dhabi.
It’s a 17 MW power plant and it’s a very interest-
ing technology as well, with higher tempearatures
JANUARY 2010 • The International Resource Journal 13
14 ENERGY • ACS-Cobra
and 15 hours storage. We’re also working for other
clients in power generation construction in many
different technologies,” he continues.
ACS-Cobra has been working on the Castor
offshore Underground Gas-Storage (U.G.S.) project,
located off Spain’s east coast, for the past three
years. In May, 2009, the company was able to
launch the construction, and the storage will be-
come operational in 2012, with a total investment
of over €1.5 billion.
“Getting all of the necessary permits for the
project took a long time, as permitting is some-
times even longer than the construction of the
project itself. Now we have almost all of the per-
mits we need, however, there are still some that
we expect to gain by March 2010, and for the time
being we are progressing with the fabrication of
the jackets and the platforms,” he says.
“We have already sub-contracted the pipe con-
nection from the platforms to the onshore facility,
and we have also gained the contract for that on-
shore facility. Basically, we have contracted or sub-
contracted around 85 to 90 per cent of the job.”
Nebrera adds that despite the delicate finan-
cial aftermath of the global financial crisis, the
project financing for the Castor U.G.S. project will
be a success and will set an important milestone
in the industry.
“Putting together the banks and work on all of
the details in the financial contracts is taking quite
JANUARY 2010 • The International Resource Journal 15
16 ENERGY • ACS-Cobra
some time, but we expect to sign everything by the
first quarter of 2010,” Nebrera says.
Meanwhile in Mexico, ACS-Cobra is working on
a unique project which Nebrera says, from a com-
pany perspective, is very important in terms of the
size and technology involved.
“It’s a project on the development of natural
gas fields for PEMEX in Mexico. We’re developing
three large gas fields so far, where we are doing
all of the drilling, wells construction and the as-
sociated infrastructure for the piping and facili-
ties and everything to deliver the clean gas to
PEMEX,” he reveals.
“This is a project of around $2 billion which
will be developed over the next fifteen years. It’s
a new approach to contracting using very intel-
ligent rules which were created by PEMEX for this
specific kind of job. This allows the company to
profit from a large project which is financed by the
contractors, so we are financing all of the activity
based on the actual value of the gas—which we
deliver to PEMEX.”
The Andasol breakthrough
Of course, all of these latest projects come
after Andasol. Nebrera says that when ACS-

Cobra took the project over, Solar Millennium
remained involved with a 25 per cent owner-
ship share.
“We contracted as E.P.C. contractor a joint
venture of Cobra [80 per cent] and SENER [20
per cent], and the E.P.C contractor sub-contracted
to Flagsol, a sub company of Solar Millennium,
the engineering of the solar field and the H.T.F.
(Heat Transfer Fluid),” he says.
“A few months ago, we bought the remaining
25 per cent that was left under the ownership of
Solar Millennium, so presently 100 per cent of
the two plants are owned by Cobra.”
SENERTROUGH patented by SENER
JANUARY 2010 • The International Resource Journal 17
Andasol has been in operation for one year
now, and Nebrera stresses that this breakthrough
power plant ought to be understood worldwide
for what it proves: the successful storage of solar
thermal energy.
“The heat storage is a novelty, something
entirely new in the thermal solar industry, and is
working very well. This is very important for the
future of how much thermal solar we can ac-
commodate in our electricity systems, because
it is already happening that solar thermal plants
are dispatchable. I think this is essential for the
future—not only for thermal solar as a technology
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www.batz.com
18 ENERGY • ACS-Cobra
but also for all of us in terms of the possibility of
having, in the medium-term, a very low carbon
electricity supply,” he says.
“I think that a number of very influential peo-
ple are not fully aware that this is happening. It is
important that everybody knows that heat storage
in solar thermal plants is a reality, it is working very
well and is a technology that is proven. It has to be
improved but it is already working very well.”
Nebrera says that the limitations of renew-
ables, such as the lack of predictability with
wind and running water plants, beg the ques-
tion, “how much renewable-based energy can
be actually accommodated by the electricity
systems?”
“We are already proving through the opera-
tion of Andasol one and two, and now Extresol
one, the answer is that thermo solar electricity
can cover a lot of the future electricity needs of
countries or territories which already have a size-
able good resource, in terms of radiation, or are
close to deserts where the amount of radiation is
very high. That is Europe’s case,” he explains.
Actualizing energy potential:
solar thermal and beyond
Consider hydro and biomass energies. They can
be harnessed, stored, and dispatched when
needed. The electricity from large hydro dams is
fully dispatchable, and biomass can be burned
as demand dictates. But Nebrera explains that
the only other renewable resource which can be
dispatched is solar, with a worldwide potential
which is several orders of magnitude above hydro
and biomass.
“To have a lot of dispatchable solar within
a relatively isolated system such as the Iberian
Peninsula system, as Spain and Portugal are quite
well integrated, would be beneficial in terms of the
system security and stability, and it can help to ac-

commodate additional amounts of non-dispatch-
able sources, such as wind or P.V.,” he says.
“In time, the interconnection of the European
Baltic and Mediterranean countries (in a kind of
super grid) should be designed not to serve the
needs of a specific country or region, as the pres-
ent national or regional grids do, but to transport
large amounts of electricity from one corner of this
vast territory to the other, with acceptable losses.”
Nebrera says that the creation of this much-
discussed super grid would be of huge benefit to
both the electricity market and the E.U. pursuit of
the 2020 renewable energy goals. It appears that
Ercilla 15, Bilbao 48009 - SPAIN. Phone: 00 34 94 4240500. Fax: 00 34 94 4231721. E.Mail: monesa_ic@monesa.es
mone_anuncio.indd 3
JANUARY 2010 • The International Resource Journal 19
including and beyond harnessing solar thermal,
cooperation is key to achieving E.U. renewable
targets at a reasonable cost.
“If you have to install a storage or back-up ca-
pacity, for example in Spain, to accommodate the
40,000 MW of wind that some people are project-
ing for 2020 or 2025, it is going to cost a fortune.
If we were very well connected with the rest of
Europe we would not need to cover the same back-
up or storage considerations,” Nebrera says.
“The more wind energy is integrated into the
grid, the more important is to share wind and all
other resources such as solar and hydro amongst
MONESA
MONESA
MONESA I&C INGENIERÍA y CONSTRUCCIÓN
Our a Company is specialized in design, construction, fabrication and
erection of big storage tanks and that has developed his own special
erection systems.
The main fields in which we are working are:
• Petrochemical – Classical tanks fixed and floating roof till a capacity of
150.000 CM.
• GNL Plants - Monesa has realized 8 GNL 150.000 CM tanks and is
erecting two more.
• Thermosolar Plants – Salt tanks (working temperature 400º C).
We are suppliers of ACS-COBRA Group and we have participated with
them in the GNL Plant of Sagunto (4 tanks) and Thermosolar Plants
(Andasol 2 Groups and Extresol 2 Groups).
13/12/09 19:21:59
20 ENERGY • ACS-Cobra

European and neighbouring countries—very impor-
tant in terms of reducing cost and improving our
chances for getting to a low carbon economy in a
relatively short time.”
Speaking of costing a fortune, cost must be
considered a pivotal issue when looking at both
solar thermal energy potential in 2010 and look-
ing ahead to 2020 goals. “Looking at how com-
ponents and materials costs are evolving, we are
more optimistic in terms of the future cost de-
crease of the C.S.P. electricity, but we will have a
much more educated approach when we complete
the ESTELA´s cost roadmap in a few weeks.”
In light of the global financial crisis, Nebrera
highlights regulation to be a driving force in moving
on from the last two difficult years.
“From the financing point of view, our percep-
tion is that things have improved within the last
four or five months, and will improve more in the
next five or six months. By the end of 2010, we
should be in more or less a business as usual situ-
ation regarding the financial markets. That would
be very good from the viewpoint of our activities
and all of our colleague’s activities,” he says.
“But of course, this industry is going to need
some help for a number of years ahead, and

AGALSA & ENERGÍA GIJÓN are

two of the member companies of
GRUPO AGALSA.
Asturiana Galvanizadora (AGALSA) is one of the
biggest hot dip galvanizing companies of Europe with
a galvanizing furnace of 15500 x 2300 x 3700mm.

Energía Gijón is an engineering company focused

into the manufacture of high precision metal galvanized
structures for solar fields with the most modern technol-
ogy equipment (cutting laser, welding robots)
JANUARY 2010 • The International Resource Journal 21

there is a lot of new regulation to be done be-

tween now and the end of 2010. Did you know
that there is a deadline of December 25, Christ-
mas Day, of 2010 which is the last day of the
transposition of the R.E.S. [Renewable Energy
Sources] Directive? There are crucial events in
Europe and worldwide which we are expecting
for 2010—a very interesting year in the after-
math of the Copenhagen meeting. If we, as Euro-
peans, are successful in promoting the changes
which are already there in the Directive, and
are to be implemented and made operational, I
think that a new era for European electricity will
appear very clearly—resulting in a lot of business
for companies like us, not only in generation but
also in transmission.”
Just as the super grid offers cooperative de-
velopment between the European Union (E.U.)
member countries- as well as neighbouring coun-
tries- towards achieving our 2020 targets, Nebrera
says that being based from Spain, a country rich in
natural renewable energy potential, could well play
in ACS-Cobra’s favour.
“We are convinced that in Spain, we’re lucky to
have a lot renewable resources, not only sun, but
wind also. We may have the possibility of cooperat-
ing with other European countries in achieving the
targets for 2020,” he says.
“Furthermore, our connection with Morocco
22 ENERGY • ACS-Cobra

Solar will be crucial in the initial stages of the Mediterra-

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nean Solar Plan development (M.S.P.).”
He adds that the goals put forward by the Re-
newable Energy Directive are yet to be developed,
but this could well be done through transposing
them from the Directive through to the national
legislations of E.U. members.
“Once those mechanisms are transposed,
the market will appear for plants to be built, for
instance, in Spain, Greece, and Portugal, with an
aim to export part of the green rights associated
with the generation of electricity to countries like
Belgium or Luxembourg—countries which are prob-
ably short of internal resources to achieve their
targets,” he says.
“In our opinion, that could create a market for
renewable energy plants to be built wherever
there are lots of natural resources, then the
feed-in tariff and difference in cost would be
taken by the countries that don’t have the natu-
ral resources to achieve their goals, possibly
through some sort of Green Electricity Certifi-
cates European market.”
So where can solar fit into this grand plan of
a brand new united electricity market? That is
where the potential for developing the Mediter-

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ranean solar plant steps in.
Waldaustraße ��, ����� Nürnberg, Germany
“The M.S.P. is an initiative of the Union for the
LEADING GLASS TECHNOLOGY
Mediterranean (U.f.M.) countries and presently the
 JANUARY 2010 • The International Resource Journal 23

European Commission, and everybody is working
to make this plan possible. I think that there is a
lot of political momentum around the convenience
of going ahead with the Mediterranean Solar
Plan,” Nebrera says.
“We expect to have something operational by
the end of 2010 possibly and, through ESTELA
and Protermosolar, we are working closely with the
Spanish presidency of the European Union, the
European Commission and some of the Union for
the Mediterranean partners countries to acceler-
ate as much as possible, the deployment of those
mechanisms that are envisaged in the directive to
make the pioneering projects happen within the
next one to two years. I think that’s a major aspect
of the cooperation between Europe and the neigh-
bouring countries for the next decade, and we are
looking forward to the appointment of the U.f.M.
Secretariat to offer our ideas and help to
this endeavour.”
“It’s here and it’s working. We have to improve
the performance and reduce the cost of the elec-
tricity produced and those are the challenges for
the future,” Nebrera says.
“Dispatchability is something that is already
proven and this is very essential for the future, not
only for this technology, but for renewable energy
and electricity.”
Through their pioneering technology, expertise
and sheer commitment to renewable innovation
which can benefit everyone worldwide, ACS-Cobra
is literally lighting our futures with its solar thermal
projects.
www.grupocobra.com

ACS-Cobra, solar thermal and beyond

When you consider the potential for far-reaching
change and development offered by the Andasol
one and two and Extresol solar thermal plants
today, it seems strange that still some influential
people remain unaware of how significant this
achievement is both for ACS-Cobra and for our
renewable futures.
 JANUARY 2010 • The International Resource Journal 25

AS SEEN IN THE JANUARY 2010 ISSUE

OF THE INTERNATIONAL RESOURCE JOURNAL