CIVIL ENGINEERING AT SENER

a long wayjourney

LINE 9 of BarcelonaMetro,

an integrationchallenge

Luis Crespo,Secretary General ofPROTERMOSOLAR

summary

38

Contributors:

Álvaro Azcárraga, Augusto Siches, Bibiana Carcelero, Claudio Zapico, Daniele Maroni, David Palacios, Enrique González, Enrique Rodríguez, Esteban Rodríguez, Fernando Artigas, Guillermo Dierssen, Joaquín Botella, José Carlos Rodríguez, José Gregorio Briz, José Julián Echevarria, José Luis Ortiz, José Manuel Belmonte, José Manuel Ovando, José Rodríguez, Luis Fernando Sánchez, Luis María San Martín, Pablo Gayá, Pablo Terán, Pelayo Suárez, Salvador Llorente, Sergi Ametller, Soledad Garrido, Unai López, Verónica Alonso and Víctor Marco.

Publishing team: Communication SENER.Editorial staff: Oihana Casas, Pilar García and Rosana Madroñal.Graphic documentation: Oihana Casas, Pilar García and Lourdes Olabarría.Layout: KAIXO Taller de diseño gráfico.Legal deposit number: BI-1804-00 Imprenta Berekintza

04 Article

Civil engineering at SENER, a long journey.

08 Interview

José Gregorio Briz, General Manager of the

Civil and Architecture Strategic Business Unit, and

Joaquín Botella, Project Manager of the

Figueras – Perpignan High Speed Line.

10 Tribune

Luis Crespo, Secretary General of

PROTERMOSOLAR.

11 Up-to-date

Corporate Space Aeronautics and Vehicles Defense and Security New Markets Power and Process Civil Architecture Marine

33 Group

34 Technology

Line 9 of Barcelona Metro.

36 In Brief

Cover picture: Figueras – Perpignan

High Speed Line, a SENER project.

© Frédéric Hédelin.

15

4

Civil engineering in SENERa long journeyThe main activity of SENER’s civil engineering area, nowadays making up the Civil and Architecture Strategic Business Unit (SBU), has for almost 30 years been managing projects. Under the management of José Gregorio Briz, and of Ernesto Ferrándiz until not long ago, it has become one of SENER’s largest business areas, both in terms of the number of people employed and in volume of contract turnover.

SENER Civil and Architecture SBU notches up nowadays around

1,000,000 man-hours per year and, in the last 20 years, has

multiplied turnover by 20, which means a 15% accumulative

annual growth. This progression, which has continued to this

day, has taken place thanks to first-order agreements within the

national and international markets. At the moment, the Civil and

Architecture SBU can approach integral engineering projects

anywhere in the world and enjoys renowned prestige in addressing

technologically complex jobs, where it provides added value in

any area of civil engineering, from ports and airports to railway

transport, roads and individual pieces of architecture.

From Bilbao to Madrid

SENER’s activity in civil engineering began in Bilbao, with a

historic project that bore the signature of innovation and which,

in tune with the company’s multidisciplinary nature, was led by

an aeronautical engineer, José Manuel de Sendagorta. It is the

port of Punta Lucero, in Muzquiz, an emblematic project for

SENER and also for Bilbao, which provided the capital of Biscay

with a ‘superport’, as it became known after the construction of

the breakwater. In any case, SENER’s civil engineering activity in

its early years was very closely linked to port projects, not just in

Spain, but also in Latin America, and with hydraulic infrastructure

in the Basque Country and adjacent territories. Important

transport projects had also been implemented, including studies

for the underground system in Bilbao. It was in 1988 however

when the decision was taken to create a specific department, and

to separate civil engineering from the industrial activities where

it had previously been found. It was a well thought-out decision,

more for the excellent prospects offered by civil engineering in

Spain than for volume of work, which was still small.

At that time, the three major projects that were being developed

were the work on the Bilbao underground system, hydraulic

infrastructure projects in the Basque country and projects

pertaining to the Basque Y. The Bilbao underground system

was the starting point of SENER’s activity in underground

systems, where nowadays it is a leading company. Thanks to the

experience acquired during this project, SENER participated in

other underground projects such as in Valencia, 1989, in Lisbon,

1991, in Oporto, 1993, among others, in a succession of national

and international contract awards which afforded continuity to this

field. Its latest projects include the Bogota underground system,

5

where SENER has designed its new underground network, or

line 9 of the Barcelona underground, a driverless line where the

company has developed integrated engineering work. Similarly,

the high speed line Basque Y will give rise to railway and high-

speed engineering, where SENER is also an international

reference at the moment. It was during the development of this

project when the need to have direct contact with the Authorities

emerged; for this reason, in 1989, SENER decided to expand the

Madrid civil engineering section in order to accomplish, in addition

to the industrial projects, infrastructure projects. This step was

crucial in addressing new work in high speed lines: the first major

agreement came in this field in 1991, a preliminar design study of

the Madrid – Barcelona high-speed line for the Ministry of Public

Works and Transport, and after this participation in high-speed

projects has been continuous, with work by SENER for the high

speed lines of Barcelona – Madrid, Madrid – Levante (east coast

of Spain), Lisbon – Madrid, Madrid – Castilla La Mancha – The

Valencian Community – the Region of Murcia, Madrid – Zaragoza

– Barcelona – French Frontier, covering all the Spanish territory,

and particularly the Figueras – Perpignan line, where for the first

time SENER is in charge of a full high speed line until its start up,

something within reach of very few companies in the world.

From 1994, SENER decided to resume its presence in port

engineering, where it had developed, during the company’s early

years, port projects, maritime and shipbuilding work for different

countries in Latin America, such as the dry dock in Paraguay, which

dates from 1966, and studies in Mexico, Colombia and Chile.

Thanks to two key projects, the marina of Getxo and the port of

Granadilla, in Tenerife, SENER recovered an important position on

the market once again, where it remains, with emblematic works

such as the Port of Punta Langosteira, in A Coruña.

The Figueras - Perpiñán High Speed Line, a project where SENER is in charge of a full high speed line through to launch.

Algiers Metro.

6

It also began to participate in airport engineering, a sector where

SENER arrived at through a unique architectural project, the

Fuerteventura Terminal, at the beginning of the 1990s. But the

biggest leap in this field came with the collaboration agreement with

OPC, a company managed by aeronautical engineer Vicente Cudós,

through which SENER entered the field of pure airport engineering.

In 2005, OPC joined SENER with most of its workforce. Now, the

Company is one of the main international players and implements

anything from terminals to runways, installations, beacon systems,

turnkey projects such as the hangar of Palma de Mallorca, as

well as technological systems, for example driverless trains that

connect the different terminals, called Automated People Movers, or

automatic luggage handling systems. The latest contracts include

projects in Poland such as the Main Airport of Poland (NCAP) and

the airport of Lublin; in Algeria, with the control towers of Algiers,

Oran, Constantine, Gardaïa and Tamanrasset; and in Spain, for

example the new terminal of the Zaragoza airport or the third runway

of Barcelona Airport, as well as different projects for the new Madrid

- Barajas terminal, among many others.

Also since it embarked upon its civil engineering activities, at

the end of the 1980s SENER made its first incursions into the

world of architecture, both with unique building projects like the

BEC (Bilbao Exhibition Centre), the Euskalduna palace, or the

more recent buildings of the residence of Barakaldo and the

facilities complex of San Roque, which required a major injection

of know-how, as in transport infrastructure projects, with station,

airport and port architecture. This latter activity has constituted

a major support to the whole business for the promotion of

transport infrastructure and, at the same time, has enabled

SENER’s architecture team to participate in highly interesting

projects such as the main station of Valencia, an underground

Minglanilla-Villargordo del Cabriel section of the Madrid-Castilla La Mancha-Comunidad Valenciana-Región de Murcia High Speed Line.

Oran Tamway.

7

station with two levels, one

for high speed lines and

another for regional and

suburban lines, or the Sol

suburban rail station. The

latter, highly complex in

technical terms, located

in the heart of Madrid,

was resolved satisfactorily

with a cavern excavated

in the ground which is in

fact Europe’s largest one,

and whose architecture

produced an extremely

airy station, which is very

clear and comfortable

for users. The synergy

between architecture and

engineering is one of the

elements that distinguishes

SENER for addressing

designs of this type,

an added value that is

acknowledged by clients.

SENER is also present

in roads, particularly in

major projects with technical complexity, such as the Supersur,

in Biscay, whose layout features a continuous succession of

tunnels and viaducts, or the A1 in Poland, as well as major

preliminar design studies for the Ministry of Public Works

and Transport, such as the Toledo – Ciudad Real – Córdoba

study. SENER has demonstrated that it can provide a very

rapid response in projects with tight deadlines, such as the

Transmontana motorway in Portugal, 120 km long, in which the

tender had to be prepared in two months. In this type of work,

the flexibility the company can deliver, thanks to its knowledge

and capacity, clearly sets it apart from its competitors.

And from Spain to the world

One of the keys to the success of SENER’s Civil and Architecture

SBU has undoubtedly been its geographical diversification. Civil

engineering projects have the unique feature that they are located

within a given area and it is therefore fundamental to know the

environment in order to guarantee their correct integration: designing

a road in Poland, Spain, Portugal or Mexico are very different matters.

Civil Engineering SBU pioneered the creation of departments which,

over time, now develop projects in other business areas. In April

1993, a new Division was opened in Barcelona, with an office which

for many years would work exclusively for the civil engineering field,

and which is now a centre with 400 people, active in all the business

areas of the company. The Valencia and Lisbon Divisions were

opened in 1996-7, also via two civil engineering projects that required

SENER to be where its clients were, the underground systems in

Valencia and Lisbon. Poland Division, in Warsaw, was opened in

2007 to guarantee presence in the countries of Eastern Europe, with

an important development in civil engineering infrastructures. In 2008,

offices were opened in Seville, largely in order to have closer contact

with civil engineering clients in Andalusia, and also in Algiers, where

different infrastructure contracts are being implemented, such as the

underground system in Algiers, the Oran tram, the aforementioned

control towers for airports all over the country. The latest opening was

the Abu Dhabi Division, which opened in 2009 and whose main work

to date has been a technical proposal for a civil engineering project,

the underground of Abu Dhabi, and recently another technical

proposal for the project of the Light Rail Train (LRT) has been added.

This area offers interesting expectations of growth.

Using all these divisions, SENER implements projects with a

strong technological innovation component that distinguishes

it as one of the leading civil engineering companies on the

international market.

Also since it

embarked upon

its civil engineering

activities, at the

end of the 1980s

SENER made its

first incursions

into the world

of architecture,

both with unique

building projects

and transport

infrastructure

projects.

Oporto Metro.

8

JOSÉ GREGORIO BRIZ GENERAL MANAGER OF THE CIVIL ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE

STRATEGIC BUSINESS UNIT

andJOAQUÍN BOTELLA PROJECT MANAGER FOR THE FIGUERAS – PERPIGNAN

INTERNATIONAL HIGH-SPEED LINE

QUESTION: If we consider SENER’s long career, what

would you highlight as the strongest points of the company

compared to its competitors?

José Gregorio Briz: In the civil engineering area we are experts

in all fields. Our distinguising feature is that, in technologically

complex projects, such as railways, particularly high-speed

lines, underground rail systems, airports, etc. we have a global

vision that we apply in all the process, since in order to design an

infrastructure you have to know how it is going to be operated,

its exploitation model. We take care of everything, from the initial

conception through to start up, we can contribute with ideas to

the client, advise about what type of transport system the client

should consider, develop everything that has to do with conceptual

engineering, detail engineering, we can support operational

issues and even carry out the testing and commissioning, etc.

This latter aspect is of great importance, particularly in turnkey

projects. A railway, an airport or a metro system brings enormous

technological complications, which are made obvious in the

testing and system approval phases. There are no engineering

companies in Spain that deal with the process in its entirety,

although there are some in the rest of the world, which is why

SENER now competes globally. I think that this is our main asset.

Q: Could you give me an example of integral engineering?

Joaquín Botella: One of the latest examples of SENER’s integral

engineering is the international HSL section Figueras – Perpignan,

where we have support the client in works that go from the design

development until the last testing phases of the line. These are

works in every technical specialities: open

sky platform, tunneling, line electrification,

safety installations of the movement and

communications, tunnels’ safety and,

also, technical and interfaces coordination

between all the design aspects. Valencia

underground system was another one, we

did the preliminary design projects for lines

3 and 5 and the integral management of

the lines, including the design supervision,

site management and collaboration work

with the operator and with the Valencia

underground. The Bilbao underground

network was another integral project with

different contracts: we did the preliminary studies, the function of the

project, which collected together all the characteristics the line should

have, layout design, installations, detail design for several sections of

line 1 and 2, works supervision and then the line 1 start-up contract.

In high speed we have done, for example, the Preliminar Design of

the HSL in the Madrid – Zaragoza and Madrid – Valencia sections,

the building projects of some line sections and site supervision, not

just right of way but also catenary and another types of equipments

of the line. The same applies to projects outside Spain, such as the

Lisbon underground. In these cases, we seek to show the client that

we can monitor the life cycle of the whole project, from the moment

an idea is conceived until it is commercially operational. We take

care of everything, and not all companies know how to do this.

Q: One of the keys to success has been the international

expansion, do you intend to continue with it?

J.G.: Yes, but without neglecting the national market, since if we

SENER

is competing

globally right

now

José Gregorio Briz

José Gregorio Briz, General Manager of the Civil and Architecture SBU.

9

are not well-known inside Spain we can hardly be known outside it.

The challenges of the coming years are, apart from strengthening

the national market, which is still our core market, to consolidate

markets that now enjoy strong growth, such as Poland, Portugal,

etc., later we must attend to the whole market around the Caribbean,

particularly Mexico, but also Panama and Columbia, and perhaps

USA, now that we have a Division in San Francisco. Another focal

point of activity is in the United Arab Emirates, where we have also

opened an office, in Abu Dhabi, and there are a great number of

opportunities in civil engineering and architecture.

Q: SENER has a Civil Engineering and Architecture Division

and an Aerospace Engineering Division, with an Aeronautics

and Vehicles Department. Do they carry out joint projects?

J.G.: On the one hand, we have the engineering-architecture pair,

which is one of the keys to our success: we address infrastructure

projects with our own architecture studio, which works very

well and is very well integrated with our engineering team. We

occasionally decide to bring in an external architecture team,

particularly in different markets, where we incorporate teams that

are more conversant with local culture, or simply because the

client asks for this, but our own architecture team, which knows

very well how the planned installation works, has to oversee

everything, particularly in questions related to functionality.

On the other hand, we work on rolling stock with SENER’s Aerospace

Division (DAE), but the approach is very different and at the same

time very complementary: our civil engineering department works

for the Administration, taking care of the specifications of what is

needed and which conditions the vehicle must fulfil and, eventually,

we check the parts sent and begin built by the manufacturer. The

DAE works for these kind of clients, such as CAF or Talgo, doing

detail engineering. It is very important to have communication

between both parties, and have both points of view well understood,

because this is what will allow DAE to carry out good projects

and what will allow us to make good recommendations and

specifications to our clients. The work of both groups is enriched

by the exchange of technology and information. For example, this

allows our civil department to issue realistic and well-grounded

specifications. We are not going to include conditions impossible to

fulfil and subsequently generate an amendment to the agreement

between the client and the manufacturer, which always entails an

additional cost. Clients are aware of this and appreciate it.

J.B.: Besides, there are other ways of cooperation in railway

projects, such as the aerodynamic studies related to high speed

railway operation: the effects of lateral wind, aerodinamic effects

in tunnels and track ballast flight phenomena, jointly developed by

the DAE and the civil sections, and that are already being applied in

several HSL in Spain and in the international Figueras – Perpignan

line. Those studies received the SENER 2008 Innovation Awards.

Q: What role does innovation play in civil engineering?

J.B.: We have been working in many R&D developments for a

long time now. We have a train simulation model that can calculate

travel time between two stations, energy consumptions, and all

the aspects of movement at all times. It is an internal development

that we use in almost all railway designs and improve continually.

We also have another one for designing the traction network of a

railway system, capable of measuring the whole electric traction

network of a line. Also, innovation projects are being conducted with

ADIF, such as IF Zone, related to the latest generation of electrical

traction subestations, and we now have a project with the Ministry

of Development, Aurígidas, which continues to study the effect of

ballast flight in HSL, etc. In projects,

Barcelona line 9 is the first driver-free

line in Spain and one of the longest

of this kind in the world, and then

there are the Automated People

Movers for airports; With AENA, we

made the first one in Spain years

ago. In the future, we must continue

to invest in R&D&I, as the lines will be

faster and faster, linking more points

on the planet, and international. It

will be necessary to plan lines for

speeds higher than the current ones,

for example 500 km/h, so that in a few years, when these speeds

can actually be reached, the infrastructures will be ready.

J.G.: In civil engineering, maintaining one’s position requires

increasingly large investments in R&D. SENER is interested in

areas where there is little competition, those which have a very high

technological component and where we have an advantage over

the rest. However, being on the crest of the wave of technology

requires effort and investment in terms of time and ideas. On top

of this we have the advantage of being multidisciplinary, which

makes technologically complex works much easier: questions

related to safety, official approval and turnkey projects are easier

to handle when you have experienced technical departments

that learn and adapt very easily. We were the first to create

railway and airport fixed installations departments, unlike run-of-

the-mill civil engineering companies that only have civil engineers

and afford installations a second-class treatment. Our path is one

of success that others have tried to follow, with better or worse

results, but we are still way ahead of them.

We can

follow the whole

life cycle of a

project

Joaquín Botella

Joaquín Botella, Project Manager for the Figueras - Perpignan High Speed Line.

10

Since the 1970s, power has become one of the top priorities

on the agendas of industrialised nations. The two consecutive

oil crises of the time highlighted the vulnerability of their

economies to sudden variations in one of the main inputs in

their production. Less known, but equally transcendent, was

the abandonment, in the early 70s, of the nuclear alternative

for power generation, which after receiving political backing,

turned out to be disastrous for the investors. It wasn’t the

accidents at Three Mile Island (79) or Chernobyl (86) that

caused the nuclear slowdown, but the lack of profitability

in the projects, which caused new orders to peter out after

1973 and the cancellation of many orders in course. In

Spain, the nuclear moratorium, against the message that was

coined, allowed to overcoming the economical difficulties that

electrical utilities had at that time with the approval of the rate

supplement which has been paid until now.

In addition to its economic impact, the hazards of energy

vulnerability have become dramatically patent in Europe

recently with the geopolitical problems associated with

Russian gas distribution. Spain cannot ignore this considerable

potential threat, although it uses relatively diversified sources,

since it depends 90% on energy from abroad.

But only in more recent years, with the recorded increase

of CO2 levels in the atmosphere, has humanity started to

perceive the consequences of continuing to burn fossil

fuels. The leading industrialised countries have marked out

a proactive path for the gradual replacement of fossil fuels

with renewable power sources, with the Kyoto protocol as

their starting point. In this sense, Europe is ahead of the

commitments, described in detail in the recent Renewable

Energy Directive, but certain notable absences of commitment

remain in other geographical areas. This decision to increase

the use of renewable energies together with measures for

energy efficiency and distributed generation, the increasing

number of high-capacity interconnections and the electric

alternative in the transport industry, provide a road map with

no return on the way to a new energy model.

Although the changes in our consumption patterns must

be applied to all forms of final power consumption in every

domain –household, industrial, transport– the generation

of electric power is where the change can be most

paradigmatic.

Among all the renewable sources of electricity generation,

thermal solar power will foreseeably cover the most part

of the generation mix, due to both its massive potential in

sunny countries such as Spain and its unique characteristics.

This technology provides stability for interconnected electric

systems and, thanks to its manageability, is capable of

adapting to the demand curve, by means of thermal storage

or hybridisation with biomass or natural gas.

It is true that renewable power needs economic support

in the early stages of its implementation –as all the other

conventional sources received in the past and even continue

to receive to this date– but many analyses tend to leave out

the fact that renewable power sources, in particular thermal

solar power, give back to society more than any assistance

they receive.

There are few success stories like that of thermoelectric

solar power in our country. The undisputed position of the

Spanish industry as world leader has been made possible

thanks to the support received for R&D and pricing conditions

that have enabled this extraordinary take-off, at a very

appropriate time when the rest of the world is considering its

own ambitious implementation plans (USA, Northern Africa,

Arab states, Australia, China, India, etc.).

Furthermore, the recent European Directive allows statistical

imports of renewable electricity within Europe, to ensure the

2020 goals are reached in any given Member State, as long

as said country offers financial support for projects built in

another country. This represents a true historical opportunity

that Spain must not miss out on.

This process of gradually replacing fossil fuels with renewable

sources will encounter many difficulties, given the powerful

economic interests tied up in the conventional power

industries such as gas and coal, but we are sure that there is

no turning back on this road, due to its advantages in terms

of energy security and social, labour, and environmental

sustainability.

With this gradual roll out, renewable power will gradually

reduce its costs until, in a few years, it can compete with

conventional generation. In fact, some technologies are

already competitive under specific circumstances.

For all these reasons, we can state with full certainty that the

power of tomorrow will be renewable.

The power of tomorrowLUIS CRESPO, Secretary General of PROTERMOSOLAR

Luis Crespo, Secretary General of PROTERMOSOLAR.

11

José Luis Martín, Jorge Unda and Pau Planas after the contract signature.

WITH THIS TAKEOVER, SENER REINFORCES ITS CAPACI-

TIES IN SPATIAL SYSTEMS FOR MANNED MISSIONS AND

LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS IN SPACE, ASTRONOMY AND

SCIENCE AND BIOMEDICAL SYSTEMS, AND CONSOLIDA-

TES ITS POSITION AS A REFERENCE TECHNOLOGY AND

ENGINEERING GROUP IN THE NATIONAL AND INTERNATIO-

NAL AEROSPACE SECTOR.

SENER has bought the Instrumentation and Systems Division

of NTE, S.A. from the Werfen group, whose core activity is es-

sentially medical systems, and comprises the business lines of

spatial systems for manned missions and life support systems

in space, astronomy and science and the biomedical systems

line. With this takeover, the former Instrumentation and Sys-

tems Division of NTE, S.A. becomes part of the NTE-SENER,

S.A. company, 100%-owned by SENER, with Head Offices in

Catalonia and offices in Lliçà d’Amunt (Barcelona), where NTE

is currently sited. The management team of the new company

is comprised of Gabriel Alarcón, current director of the SENER

Division in Barcelona, as Managing Director, and Albert Tomàs

and Francesc Gallart, Technical Director and Commercial Di-

rector of NTE, respectively, who will continue to hold these

posts at the head of NTE-SENER.

The contract was signed last October 8 at the Werfen Group

Head Offices in Barcelona. The Managing Director of NTE up

to now, Pau Planas, and the Managing Director of SENER,

Jorge Unda, entered into the purchase agreement accom-

panied by the Werfen Financial Manager, José Luis Martín,

and the General Manager of SENER’s Aerospace Business

Strategic Unit, Rafael Quintana.

Following the signature, Jorge Unda declared: “With this acqui-

sition, framed within our 2008–2010 Strategic Plan, we aim

to bolster our leadership in aerospace actuation systems, in

which both SENER and NTE have a reference position on the

international market, and also in bioengineering, where NTE is

very well positioned, an emerging sector with a great future”.

Pau Plans explained: “We make a very positive appraisal of

SENER’s acquisition of the instrumentation and systems divi-

sion, which will surely lead to increased opportunities, both at

business level and in the professional development of its em-

ployees. Moreover, the operation will allow Werfen to focus on

NTE’s software activity for in vitro diagnosis, which embarks

upon a new era under the trade name Systelab.”

NTE (short for New Space Technologies, in Spanish) has achie-

ved great prestige in the Sector for its clinical and biomedical

information systems, its mecatronic precision products for appli-

cation in space and biomedical systems, its optical and electro-

optical instruments, and its bioengineering systems and devices.

SENER has purchased the Instrumentation and Systems Divi-

sion, which comprises the business lines of spatial systems for

manned missions and life support systems in space, astronomy

and science, and the biomedical systems line, areas in which

NTE develops activities that range from feasibility and system

studies to the supply of fully operational software systems and

hardware prototypes and small series that include product inte-

gration and verification. Its main clients include institutions such

as the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and the European

Space Agency (ESA). NTE is acknowledged for the quality of its

products, which are underpinned by a major effort in R&D.

NTE-SENER will take on all the professionals of the workforce

of the aforementioned division of NTE, highly-qualified wor-

kers that share the philosophy of excellence which SENER is

proud of, and who will enjoy total operating independence.

Similarly, NTE-SENER will afford continuity to all agreements

the company had at the time of the take-over.

The constitution of NTE-SENER as a high-technology company,

confirms SENER’s successful record in Catalonia, where it has

been operating for seventeen years and is already the referen-

ce engineering and technology group; the Company opened its

offices in Barcelona in 1993, and since then has developed high-

tech projects in the civil engineering sectors, with outstanding

presence in the railway, architecture, aeronautical engineering,

marine engineering and power and process sectors. The new

NTE-SENER company will complement this activity with projects

in the space, astronomy and biomedicine sectors. SENER now

employs a total workforce of 400 professionals at its installations in

Barcelona and Lliçà d’Amunt. With this acquisition and the recent

extension of the Barcelona offices (where a facility of 1,100 m2 has

been added to the three it already had in the same building in calle

Provença), its installations in Catalonia now amount to 5,500 m2 of

offices, white rooms, integration offices and workshops.

SENER buys the Instrumentation and Systems Division of the NTE, S.A. company

12

The Association of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers of

Spain (AINE) has granted SENER the ‘Award for Best Com-

pany in the field, outstanding in R&D&i application and develo-

pment’, within the Companies category. The award ceremony

was held on July at the Higher Technical School of Marine

Engineering (Madrid). This day was of significant importance

as the celebrations coincided with festivities of the day of the

Patron Saint of the sea, ‘Nuestra Señora del Carmen’, a figure

who is also patron saint of SENER, owing to the company’s

marine origins. The General Manager of SENER’s Marine Bu-

siness Unit, Luis García Bernáldez, was on hand to collect the

prize from AINE VicePresident, Manuel Moreu.

The aim of the AINE Awards is to promote technical develo-

pments in shipbuilding, maritime transport and auxiliary in-

dustries and to promote good work practices for marine en-

gineers. Therefore, the Association has recognised SENER’s

continuous effort in R&D&i, especially remarkable in the de-

velopment of FORAN, a shipbuilding CAD/CAM System for

the design and production of ships.

This is the second time that the company’s R&D&I policy is

awarded thanks to its marine CAD/CAM System, FORAN. Last

year, SENER received the Prince Felipe Award for Business Ex-

cellence of the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce in

the category ‘Technological Innovation for Large Companies’. It

acknowledged SENER’s marine software as a relevant technolo-

gical product with proven success in Spain and abroad.

FORAN is currently licensed to over 150 shipyards and de-

sign offices in 30 countries. It includes several main pac-

kages (Forms definition, Naval Architecture and General

Arrangement; Hull Structure; Outfitting; and Electrical), com-

mon modules (Drafting, Design Change and Access Control,

Design Review, Virtual Reality), links with production (cutting

machines, bending, machines, etc.), interfaces with manage-

ment systems and PLM Integration.

Through its marine activities, SENER offers ship consulting

and engineering services.

The Governing Committee of the College of Architects of the

Basque Country and Navarra agreed to put forward two SENER

projects for the Spanish Architecture Prize of 2009, which is

awarded by the National Council of the Architectural Colleges

of Spain. The Prize finally awarded the Spanish Pavilion in

the Zaragoza International Exhibition 2008. The two SENER

projects nominated for the prize are protected housing for

disabled persons in Barakaldo and a multi-purpose complex

incorporating a centre for senior citizens, a youth centre,

underground car park and housing development in San

Roque, Portugalete. It should be mentioned that this complex

was selected for the 10th Spanish Arquitecture and Urban

Planning Biennial (BEAU) as one of the most archetypal urban

architectural development projects of the last two years.

Two construction works by SENER, proposed for the

Spanish Architecture Prize 2009

SENER receives the Innovation Award from the Association

of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers of Spain

Protected Housing in Barakaldo.

Luis García Bernáldez collects the Innovation Award from AINE.

San Roque Equipment Centre.

13

The Balearic Ports Authority

gives a special mention to SENEROn the 17th of July, the panel of judges of the Balearic Ports Authority

awarded a special mention to the proposal submitted by SENER at

the ideas competition for the ‘Maritime station and organisation of

annexed areas at the Cos Nou, in Port de Maó (Menorca, Spain)’.

Of the fifty-three proposals that were entered, three were awarded

prizes and two received special mentions, one of which was the

submission by SENER. The panel of judges, who acknowledged

the high quality of all the projects presented, highlighted SENER’s

proposal for its good organisation of people and traffic flows.

SENER has opened a new office in Abu Dhabi, in the United

Arab Emirates, located in the Gulf Business Centre district of

downtown Abu Dhabi and will be SENER’s local headquar-

ters to develop projects in the power and process sector,

the civil engineering and architecture sector, the aerospace

sector, as well as the marine sector.

SENER began to take an interest in the business opportu-

nities available in the emirate of Abu Dhabi in 2007, when

the company made its first contacts there. This led to the

creation, in March 2008, of Torresol Energy, a joint venture

between SENER and MASDAR ADFEC (Abu Dhabi Future

Energy Company) with the mission to develop renewable

energies and that was launched by the Abu Dhabi property

investment company, MUBADALA Development Company.

Since then, SENER’s activities in Abu Dhabi have grown due

to the engineering opportunities available in the United Arab

Emirates for the power sector, as well as for marine enginee-

ring, civil engineering, architecture and aerospace projects,

and the company has now opened an operational Division

in the city. SENER’s new local headquarters will support the

company’s different strategic business units as well as the

rest of the divisions for all business opportunities that arise in

the United Arab Emirates and its area of influence.

SENER is currently undertaking several solar projects in colla-

boration with MASDAR as a key technological partner at To-

rresol Energy’s plants, Gemasolar, Valle 1 and Valle 2, currently

under construction in the South of Spain. It is also taking a very

active role in different engineering projects in the area.

SENER establishes

a new Division in the United Arab Emirates

SENER office in Abu Dhabi.

Firts Annual SENER Award at UPC

The School of Industrial and Aeronautic Engineering of Terras-

sa (ETSEIAT), part of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya

(UPC – Barcelona Tech), has awarded the first ever SENER

Award which honors outstanding work in the ‘Projects’ cour-

se offered as part of the Aeronautics Engineering Degree, and

Industrial Engineering Degree courses ‘Projects I and II’.

SENER continues its ongoing collaboration with the Univer-

sity as an integral part of its investment in Innovation: this is

one of the many joint activities undertaken by the Barcelona

office’s Committee for Innovation and the School of Indus-

trial and Aeronautic Engineering of Terrassa with the aim of

promoting innovation among university students. This award

has been granted by SENER and UPC after evaluating a se-

ries of projects in fields previously established by both ins-

titutions. Industrial Engineering undergraduates were given

two project options: to design a renewable power-based rail

transport system or the implementation of an airport in Ca-

talonia for commercial space travel. Aeronautic Engineering

undergraduates chose between designing an Unmanned Ae-

rial Vehicle (UAV) or an ecological dirigible.

For this edition, the award honored the work of Industrial

Engineering students Esther Biel Roda, Xavier García Raven-

tós, Juan José Sánchez Rodríguez and Carles Vilà Pasqual

in their project entitled ‘Design of a solar energy-powered rail

transport system’ and Aeronautic Engineering students Ale-

jandro Bonillo Coll, Jorgina Busquets i Corominas, Neus Ga-

llés i Raventós, Cèsar García Castilla, Victor González Lao,

Joan Jorquera Grau, Daniel López Fernández, Ferran Martí

Duran, Rosa María París López and Javier Yuste Soler, for

their project entitled ‘Initial design of an ecological dirigible:

Freighter Bird’. All of the awardees received a commemora-

tive trophy and the Aeronatic Engineering awardees received

a trip to Toulouse to visit the Airbus facilities and the Cité de

L’Espace, while the Industrial Engineering awardees won a

trip to the Plataforma Solar de Almería.

The award ceremony was held on July and saw the participation

of the Section Chiefs of SENER Barcelona Electrical and Mecha-

nical Divisions, Sonia Fraile and Iñigo Gurrea respectively.

14

JOSÉ GREGORIO BRIZ, Department of Civil Engineering and

Architecture Director and until now Director of SENER Division

in Seville, has been appointed General Manager of SENER’s Civil

Engineering and Architecture Business Unit. José Gregorio Briz, that

had been supporting actively the work of Ernesto Ferrándiz heading

up the civil engineering activity at SENER, takes control of the Civil

and Architecture SBU, that in the lasts years has experimented

a significant growth and today represents one of the company’s

main business fields. José Gregorio Briz has a wide experience at

SENER, company he joined in 1989 as part of the Industrial and

Marine Division (DIN), first as Project Manager and later, in 1991,

he was appointed Head of the Civil Works Section; in 1997 he

joined the Civil Department, first as Deputy Director and, afterwards,

as Director of the Department. Consequently, MIGUEL ÁNGEL FERNÁNDEZ, SENER Delegate in Andalusia until now, will also take

on the role of Director of SENER Seville.

Since July 2009, MERCEDES SIERRA is in charge, as VicePresident

at SENER office in San Francisco, of the Business Development for

Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) in the US. After working at CDTI

(Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico e Industrial; governmental

entity devoted to R&D, Ministry of Industry), as Director of Aerospace

Programmes, from 2005 to June 2009, Mercedes Sierra is back in

SENER, where she began her professional career in 1985, as part

of the Structures and Mechanism Section in Bilbao. From her new

post, Mercedes Sierra will support the work of Jose C. Martin, CEO of

the SENER Office in the US, and the work of Miguel Domingo, Solar

Business Director at SENER, both in Spain and abroad.

CÉSAR FERNÁNDEZ has been named Head of the Piping Section

in SENER’s Madrid Division, taking over from David Palacios. An

ocean and marine engineer by training, César Fernández has seven

years of professional experience and during his time with SENER he

has participated in and directed Marine Area projects with the Ship

Department of the Madrid Division. DAVID PALACIOS’ new role is as

Project Manager of a ‘turnkey’ project for PEMEX in the La Cangrejera

Complex in Mexico. David is a marine engineer and since 1994, when

he began working for SENER, he has been the Project Manager of

ACECA’s combined cycle plant and one of the Project Managers

of the regasification plant in Sagunto. David also held the post

of Head of the Ship Engineering Department between 2001

and 2008, and has been Head of the Mechanical Section of the

Madrid Division for the last three years.

RAMÓN VARELA has been named Legal Department Director

of SENER Grupo de Ingeniería, S.A., which is one of the largest

engineering groups in Spain, with more than 5,700 employees and

a turnover of above 829 million euros. It is a newly created post

and was put in place as a response to the growth that the Group is

experiencing, with the hope that it will meet the needs of the Legal

Department. Ramón Varela holds a Law Degree from the University of

Deusto and a Master’s Degree in International Business Law from the

University of the Pacific (Stockton, California) and he has worked in

the Legal Department of SENER for the last two years. Previously, he

pursued his professional career in different commercial law firms, both

in Europe (Bilbao) and in the States (San Diego and Dallas).

RICARDO CASAL has taken over responsibility of commercial

management at SENER Argentina, in the post of Company Business

Manager. The career path of this industrial engineer has passed

through several front-line companies, both in Argentina and in other

Latin American countries. His incorporation at SENER took place in

August of 2008 and from the start he has been part of the business

and technical work groups within SENER, participating in the

development of Power and Process, Civil and Marine business areas.

In addition, he takes care of coordinating engineering bids in Argentina

and Latin America. Furthermore, he leads the organisation of the work

of SENER Argentina’s business team concerning bids that are carried

out in collaboration with the Strategic Business Unit of Power and

Process, responsibilities that he will carry over to his new position.

RICARDO ARRIAGA, Construction Senior Director and former CEO of

Bufete Industrial, has recently joined SENER to head the Purchasing

and Construction Sections in Mexico, within the Purchasing and

Construction Division. His principal responsibilities will be, among

others, to strengthen the activities of Purchasing, Activation and

Inspections (Purchasing Section), and also those of Subcontracting,

Construction and Start - Up (Construction Section). Ricardo Arriaga, in

close collaboration with the Managing Director of SENER Mexico, José

Belmonte, and with the General Manager of SENER’s Purchasing and

Construction Section, Eduardo Serrano, will work towards achieving

these objectives, both in Mexico and in the rest of SENER, reinforcing

the current capacities of the company and dealing with the bids and

projects that need the services of the SENER office in Mexico.

NEW APPOINTMENTS

Andrés Sendagorta, Great Cross of Naval MeritAndrés Sendagorta, VicePresident of SENER Grupo de In-

geniería and Head of the Aerospace and Defence Area, has

been honored with the Great Cross of Naval Merit (white rib-

bon) by His Majesty, King Juan Carlos I, at the suggestion of

the Minister of Defense, Carme Chacón, in accordance with

the Royal Decree passed by the Council of Ministers.

After first graduating from the Marine Military School of the

Spanish Navy as a Sub-Lieutenant in the General Corps Hig-

her Grade, during his career Andrés Sendagorta has been

an anti-submarine warfare Officer on the frigate ‘Baleares’,

a Lieutenant and combat jet pilot, of aircraft carrier grade in

the US Navy and the Spanish Navy, as well as a Harrier jet

pilot at the marine base in Rota and on the aircraft carrier

‘Príncipe de Asturias’. He was later promoted to Lieutenant-

commander and second squadron leader of the Harrier

squadron at the marine base at Rota.

The order of Naval Merit is a medal that distinguishes both

military personnel and civilians for performance of outstan-

ding actions or services. The Great Cross is bestowed upon

officers, generals and civilians in institutional, administrative,

academic or professional roles. Furthermore, the white rib-

bon is awarded for merits or services performed during mis-

sions or services performed under the authority of the Armed

Forces, or that are related to National Defense.

15

SENER has a high profile role in the IXV project (Intermediate

eXperimental Vehicle). This is an experimental atmospheric

re-entry vehicle of the European Space Agency (ESA) which

will serve to demonstrate technologies that ease the way

towards completely unmanned European exploration and

transport missions in space. SENER is the main contractor

of the Guidance, Navigation and Flight Control Subsystem,

the most critical feature of this mission.

The IXV project forms part of ESA’s Future Launchers Preparatory

Programme (FLPP). Since the beginning, the IXV was conceived as a

technological platform, building on a series of technical developments

and successes (ESA programmes such as TRP, GSTP, HERMES,

MSTP, FESTIP, X-38, FLPP, and national programmes), that takes

a step further compared to previous atmospheric re-entry projects,

like ARD and EXPERT, by way of increasing manoeuvrability and

in-flight autonomy to assess technological viability of missions that

require a wide re-entry corridor.

As its name indicates, the IXV is designed to be an

‘intermediate’ step along the European path, efficient in terms

of both technology and cost, for the in-flight assessment of the

technology required to prepare ambitious future developments

of operational systems with limited risk for Europe.

The IXV project took off in 2000, when the ESA established

a long-term European plan for implementing systems and

technologies that would allow in-flight experimentation in

atmospheric re-entry vehicles. In 2005, the consolidation of the

space industry in Europe allowed the IXV project to take shape,

leading on from previous European successes in these types of

systems and technology. IXV represents a significant advance

with respect to the previous experimental programmes of

European flight, and supplies a concrete and attainable means

of consolidating Europe’s independent position in the strategic

field of atmospheric re-entry technologies, in order to prepare

for ambitious future developments such as the ARV (Advanced

Rescue Vehicle), which will be an unmanned rescue vehicle for

astronauts at the International Space Station (ISS).

The key objectives of IXV are the design, development,

manufacture, integration and verification, both ground-based and

in-flight, of a European experimentation system for completely

independent atmospheric re-entry vehicles.

Within the broad field of technologies of critical interest to this

type of mission, particular attention has been paid to advanced

instrumentation for aerodynamics and aerothermodynamics,

thermal protection and high temperature structure solutions, and

especially the Guidance, Navigation and Control Subsystem of

the vehicle via a combined system of thrusters and aerodynamic

actuators (flaps), that SENER is responsible for.

The design activities for IXV began in 2008 and, by the end of the

year, the Preliminary Design Review milestone (PDR) had been

completed. In 2009, the development phases of the IXV vehicle

began and the launch is programmed for 2012. It will take off on

board the launcher Vega from Kourou, in French Guiana, until it

reaches an altitude of 450 km, from which point it will begin its

return flight to the Earth and then do a gentle and safe splash-

down in the Pacific Ocean. Artistic view of the IXV vehicle splash-down in the Pacific Ocean.

ESA’s Intermediate Experimental Vehicle (IXV)

Artistic view of

the IXV vehicle

during the

launch.

© E

SA

© E

SA

16

The epic voyage of ULYSSESBY ÁLVARO AZCÁRRAGA AND FERNANDO ARTIGAS

This is how European Space Agency (ESA) bulletin nº 136 dubbed

the journey of Ulysses, which began during the 1970s as part of

the ISPM (International Solar Polar Mission), with SENER playing a

pivotal role in its development, as will be seen below.

Ulysses ended its useful life (due to fuel depletion, not technical

failure) on 30 June 2009, 18 years and 246 days after its launch,

even though it had been designed for a useful life of five years (!).

At the time, it was the fastest manmade celestial body ever (15,4

km/s), providing unprecedented information on the Sun, since

we paradoxically knew a lot more about certain very distant stars

than about our own Sun.

The mission carried a payload of around 50 kg of instruments

and passed over the poles of the Sun, a task that had

never before been done, following an encounter with the

planet Jupiter (reached on a Hohmann transfer orbit). Then,

making use of Jupiter’s gravity well, Ulysses achieved great

acceleration, followed by a shift in the plane of its trajectory,

reaching an angle of 80º with the ecliptic plane which allowed

it to observe the poles of the Sun.

For this purpose, in 1977 the European Space Agency (ESA) and

the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) agreed on a

joint programme, involving two probes. NASA later dropped out

due to budget issues and only the probe supplied by the Europeans

remained, with the Americans in charge of the launch and entering

orbit around Jupiter, as well as supplying the power source for the

mission, a radioisotope generator (Gisela) using plutonium 238.

The launch was scheduled for 1983, but a series of changes and,

in particular, the uproar among various organisations which were

opposed to the use of nuclear power in space, delayed it until

1986, when the Challenger disaster (carrying the first astronaut

who was not a scientist, engineer or pilot among its crew: a school

teacher who had been selected as a member of the crew) caused

a temporary suspension of all space shuttle flights. Finally, the

Discovery shuttle sent the mission into space in October 1990.

This delay required Ulysses to be dismantled and transported,

for storage and maintenance, from the USA to Europe, meaning

that the industrial teams that manufactured the system remained

active for almost thirteen years.

Following its launch with Discovery, the spacecraft used a

combination of two solid-propellant engines allowing it to

achieve an elliptical orbit with a perihelion of one astronomic unit

(AU) and an aphelion of five (the distance from Jupiter to the

Sun), stabilised along its Z axis, in line with the axis of the main

antenna. This allowed Ulysses to remain in constant contact with

Earth on the S band (to service the ship) and on the X band

(for scientific information). It reached Jupiter on 8 February 1992

and, from there, passed over the poles of the Sun for the first

time, crossing through the tail of the comet Hyakutake on 1 May

1996, and the comet McNaught-Hartley in 2004.

By the end of its useful life, Ulysses had passed over both poles of the

Sun three times, becoming the Rosetta Stone for the Interplanetary

Network (IPN), since it is the only manmade object outside of the

ecliptic plane which is also equipped with a gamma-ray detector.

System configuration

Essentially, Ulysses consists of a box structure with dimensions

of 3.2 x 3.3 x 2.1 metres, on which are mounted the three main

elements of the ship: the 1.65-metre high-gain communication

antenna, the radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) using

plutonium 238, and the system of mechanisms and booms that

carry the instruments, consisting of two wire booms which, when

deployed reach a tip-to-tip length of 72 metres, a retractable

copper-beryllium boom, with a length of 7.5 metres, and a rigid

boom, folded by a carbon-fibre elbow with a diameter of 50 mm.

The first two were instruments in themselves, measuring the radio

waves produced by the solar winds, while the elbow boom carried

four types of instruments, two for measuring X-rays and gamma-

ray bursts and two types of magnetometers. The overall mass of

the spacecraft was 350 kg, with a total payload of 55 kg.

The work of SENER

SENER was the main contractor and supplier of the system of

mechanisms, including the control and deployment mechanisms. Ulysses probe configuration.

Elbow boom.

© E

SA

17

By the way, the wire booms played an essential role in the ship,

since they not only acted as a scientific instrument to study

the solar winds, but their controlled deployment also made it

possible to slow the spin rate of Ulysses from 80 rpm (completing

its injection in orbit) to 5 rpm, which was the nominal speed for

conducting the scientific tests.

How come SENER was awarded such an important role?

Various events contributed to this, including the fact that NASA

was in no position to impose an American manufacturer, and

the selected European manufacturer, Dornier GmbH (now part

of Astrium, the aerospace branch of aerospace giant EADS,

owner of Airbus) maintained an excellent relationship with

SENER, firstly due to its prior experience in the development

of the ISEE-B probe (where SENER conducted its first space

flight trials), and secondly because SENER, showing notable

foresight, had joined the European consortium STAR (the only

one that still exists), in which Dornier was the German partner;

and maybe also because the ‘styles’ of the two companies were

very similar, making it easier for them to cooperate.

The fact is that the Ulysses project involved passing on a

considerable part of the risk to a Spanish company, which

worked on the project for thirteen years. Ulysses was, in both

technological and financial terms, the largest flight equipment

contract signed during the 1980s in Spain, and all the equipment

worked to perfection. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that

NASA, when developing the Hubble space telescope, placed

its trust in SENER to design the focus mechanism for the most

sensitive camera in the telescope, which at its time was the most

precise mechanism in the world, allowing the telescope to work,

at least in part, until the mirror polishing fault was corrected and

it became the marvel it still is today.

SENER’s technical team on this project

At the risk of making some unforgivable omission, we cannot end

this article without remembering the engineers and technicians

who raised the reputation of SENER to such heights around

the world. One of them went on to become Director of an INTA

satellite (Manuel Fuentes) and another became Technical Officer

and Head mission Engineer for a number of ESA satellites (Miguel

Aguirre), proof that SENER has been a good school.

The team was led by Carlos Pascual with Erardo Herrera

as Technical Director (and with the help of the remarkable

Chechu Rivacoba), Federico Abarrategui (with Alberto Martín)

in production, Inocencio Tato in electronics, Jaime Azcona

in thermal control, Santiago Ugaldea in quality assurance

and Harry Mallard in testing. Eduardo Serrano was Director

of the Bilbao Division and Álvaro Azcárraga managed the

Aerospace Department in Madrid. All of them were under the

orders of José Manuel Sendagorta.

Incidentally, the only serious incident (fortunately with no major

consequences) involved the retractable boom (the ‘party blower’,

as it was affectionately known), which warped when heated by

solar radiation. This contingency had already been foreseen

by Jaime Azcona, but was not considered a major issue. As

a consequence, the spacecraft oscillated, endangering the

pointing of its antenna towards Earth. All it took was to turn the

craft slowly, placing the boom in the shade, to get rid of the

problem; the few times (once a year) that, due to its trajectory,

it necessarily had to come out of the shade, the oscillation was

compensated using Ulysses’ own attitude-control thrusters.

The Ulysses mission allowed us to obtain information on our

Sun and its environment, including the deadly gamma rays, in

an unprecedented manner. Throughout its 18 years of useful life

(it was only designed to last five years!) over 200 scientists in

Europe and America dedicated their livelihoods to it.

To this day, although it is nothing but a small hulk of metal that will

remain in orbit for millions of years, Ulysses is still useful since a

considerable part of the data it collected continues to be used for

future work. We now know that the heliosphere is a turbulent place,

with winds of up to 750 km per second, that the changes in its

magnetic fields are to blame for the eleven-year cycle and, above all,

that the ‘vacuum’ of space isn’t actually all that empty, since particles

of cosmic dust are plentiful throughout the solar system, thirty times

more than the estimates of the most daring astronomers.

It remains a great satisfaction for all of us at SENER to know that

we played an important role in this major project, and that we

continue to participate actively in modern space exploration, with

Rosetta, Herschel-Planck, Beppi Colombo and even ExoMars.

In this year which marks, with well-deserved honours, the fortie-

th anniversary of the moon landing, in Spain we can proudly ce-

lebrate the conclusion of an extraordinary voyage, which started

only eight years after the famous Apollo XI. The truth is that we

knew how to design and produce something else other than the

ground stations for American spacecraft.

Ulysses probe in Space.

© N

AS

A

18

On the 14th of May, the launch of the Herschel and Planck

satellites took place from the European Space Agency’s (ESA)

base at Kourou, in French Guiana. SENER had a prominent role

in this project, as supplier of the complete Guidance and Control

System (AOCS/GNC) of the Planck satellite and of some of the

elements in Herschel’s AOCS/GNC System that are common to

both satellites. This system is responsible of bringing the satellites

to the required positions (orbit) and maintaining them with the

desired pointing and stabilization profiles (attitude), besides

correcting any possible deviation. Due to the critical nature and

the complexity of this system, company engineers participated

in monitoring the functioning of the AOCS/GNC System during

launch, lending technical support to the ESA at all times.

SENER’s Space Department Director, Diego Rodríguez, and the

Project Manager, Salvador Llorente, were invited to the launch

ceremony in Kourou, and in the end Salvador Llorente attended,

accompanied by the veteran engineer Carlos Pascual, former

Project Manager of Herschel’s Optical Bench Assembly (OBA)

structure. Other SENER personnel involved in this project were

present in the simultaneous event held in the ESA station in

Villafranca (Madrid), with a direct connection to Kourou. The

anticipation of this important scientific mission also brought

together numerous news media who gave broad coverage of

their observations during the following days.

The launch went completely according to plan, with results that

were even better than expected and almost perfect launching

conditions. Both satellites have since then sent data showing

that all their instruments and functionalities are performing

excellently. In July, Herschel and Planck successfully passed

commissioning of equipments and functionalities, leading to

a successful In-Orbit-Commisioning-Review (IOCR), bringing

the project development activities to an end and the delivery

accepted, and marking the beginning of the operational phase

for both missions. The Guidance and Control Systems (AOCS/

GNC) of both satellites, for which SENER is responsible, are

functioning flawlessly: all the planned operations have been

carried out with absolute normality and with above-nominal

performance, thus improving on the expected result. At the

moment, both satellites, now in their respective Lissajous orbits

around the L2 point (1.5 million kilometres from the Earth), have

commenced the scientific data acquisition program, which will

last for several years, and they are now sending in the first

pictures. Apart from the continuous control os the Satellites

attitude, throughout the mission, the AOCS/GNC System will

perform regular orbital maintenance manoeuvres to guarantee

stable orbital trajectories.

In general, SENER system’s operation is outstanding, providing very

good results. Salvador Llorente, SENER engineer and Manager

of this project, declared, “I think it is a source of great pride for

SENER and the team that has worked for more than seven years

on this project to prove that we have managed to make one of the

most autonomous and complex AOCS/GNC Systems flown on an

ESA mission work perfectly,

with excellent performance

and barely any operational

difficulties. It is important

to stress that this is the

first AOCS/GNC System

produced by a Spanish

company for the European

Space Agency. Furthermore,

in the Planck satellite, in

which SENER holds the full

design authority, the AOCS/

GNC is an innovating,

complex system, for the

first time combining spin-

stabilisation technology

with technology for three

axes stabilised vehicles,

with unprecedented levels

of autonomy and on-board

decision-making capabilities.

The operations team at the

ESA-ESOC control centre

is very satisfied with the

operation of the System,

and surprised with its level

of technology and the

associated autonomy”.

SENER participates in the launch of the Herschel and Planck satellites

Artistic view of the launch showing the separation of the Planck satellite.

© E

SA

19

The design of railway rolling stock is currently highly relevant

within the array of vehicle design activities under development

by the Mechanical Section of SENER. There are currently

various projects underway involving calculation, design,

integration of installations and systems and noise prediction,

that showcase the quality, knowledge and flexibility of a very

heterogeneous group of professionals, capable of carrying

out conceptual and detail engineering in almost any part of

a train, metro or tram.

The working groups are divided into the following disciplines:

installations, calculation and structural design, interior design

and noise. Each working group also contains technical

leaders who, coordinated by the Project Manager, manage

the team of SENER professionals and interact with the

construction company in a concurrent engineering process

to meet the established deadlines for documentation

submission. The sizes of the teams are decided according

to the scope of the project, thus providing the client with

great flexibility when approaching jobs and fulfilling the cost

and planning objectives.

The Installations group is in charge of the development of

the different systems of the vehicle: electronic systems,

pneumatic systems, ventilation, fuel, refrigeration and fire-

fighting, among others. In the initial basic engineering phase,

the optimum arrangement of the main pieces is considered,

ensuring compliance with weight distribution, operability and

maintenance requirements; then the detail engineering phase

takes place, during which the mountings, tubing and wiring

are designed, and all the mechanical components forming

part of these systems are defined. Similarly, the Installations

group performs the calculation, design, construction of scale

models and data collection during the testing stage of the

ventilation and refrigeration systems.

The Calculation and Structural Design group uses computing

tools such as NASTRAN, PAMCRASH and ABAQUS Explicit

for the performance of simulations and analysis of cases

with static, inertial and fatigue loads. The results of these

simulations allow the construction companies to comply

with the current guidelines regarding structural integrity and

shock resistance, as well as making an optimum design of

the structure in terms of passive safety, weight reduction,

prediction of fatigue behaviour and reduction of numbers of

solder, screw and rivet joints.

The Interior Design group carries out the conceptual and

detailed design of the interior and exterior finishings of the

passenger compartments and the driver’s cab, and provides

them with aesthetic designs created by the style advisors

chosen by the construction company. Each new series is

personalised according to the aesthetic requirements of the

operators who will acquire the rolling stock. Component

harmonisation, systems integration and process and material

selection is key to achieving an attractive interior that fulfills

the new fire safety demands within Europe, as outlined in the

recently approved technical specification CEN/TS 45545.

The Noise group is in charge of the area of prediction of

interior and exterior noise in rolling stock, fields that are of

vital importance in ensuring the comfort of the passenger. The

Noise engineers carry out their activities during the course

of the project, assessing and proposing improvements to

minimise, from the very beginning, the noise impact in the

passengers’ compartments, as well as the exterior noise

emissions. For this, they use specific simulation techniques,

many of which have been developed by SENER, which are

complemented with on-track testing stages of the units for

numerical correlation and corroboration of the results.

SENER’s project team brings together the technological areas

described above, with experts in different fields who, under

the direction of the Project Manager, work collectively and

flexibly to ensure the timely accomplishment of the technical

and economic objectives.

Design of rolling stock and systems integration

Madrid Metro: new units.

Under wing installations of a metro unit.

20

project, a research project for developing future railways, where

SENER participated in the structural design, composite materials

were investigated for cabins, floors and engines. Likewise, as part

of their business strategy, TALGO has initiated the AVRIL train

project, capable of travelling at speeds close to 360 km/h (225

mph). This technically very ambitious goal will require the adoption

of all kinds of innovative solutions to reach the stated speeds,

including the use of composite materials.

The Engineering of Composite Materials Area of SENER will, from

the last quarter of 2009, have access to a selection of state of the

art methods for research into different manufacturing processes

for fabrication of composite pieces. In the first instance, it will

have hot drape forming machinery and an extrusion machine that

uses pulltrusion technology. The primary aim will be the study of

advanced, economically sustainable production techniques for use

in the rail sector, focussing on out-of-autoclave processes.

A second investigative pathway is the improvement of manufacturing

technologies of dry textile preforms with two basic objectives: firstly,

to achieve complex geometries, and secondly, to improve the piling

processes that currently require a large number of manual operations.

These preforms are used as strengtheners and are later moulded

via injection or resin infusion processes. SENER is supported by the

CTAE (Centre of Aerospace Technology) and INTEXTER (Institute

of Textile Research and Industrial Collaboration), which is located

on the campus of the Polytechnic University of Terrassa, in where

SENER will inaugurate its composite material laboratory.

Additionally, SENER has access to a series of support areas requi-

red both for establishing the features and for assessing previous

processes, like materials characterisation, design, calculation and

simulation analysis methods and mechanical testing. The Area of

Engineering of Composite Materials has at its disposal modelling

and structural calculation programs, and carries out impact simu-

lation which, for composite materials, is one of the most complex

problems to be solved.

The rail sector shows a growing tendency to use composite

materials. Within this domain, SENER is firmly behind investment in

research, development and innovation in manufacturing techniques

of this type of material and in its application within the rail industry.

The extensive range of possibilities which SENER offers in the

field of composite materials is reflected in the existence of a broad

spectrum of lines of research and activities, that reaches from design,

calculation and simulation of structural elements, to development

of new manufacturing processes suitable for application in the rail

industry. In aeronautics, composites are used in the fabrication of

pieces for primary structures, thanks to their advantages of lightness

and flexibility of form. Resistance to variations in weather conditions,

and also thermal and noise insulation and fire resistance are also

very desirable advantages. In the rail sector, the objective of the

developments of future high speed trains has more to do with finding

more important advantages than on increasing speed. One of the

advantages offered by composite materials is in weight saving, with

its accompanying decrease in energy consumption and therefore

lowering of emissions levels. For example, in CAF’s AVI 2015

The duality of technology:

use of composite materials in the rail sector

Hot Drape Forming machine.

Modelling and predicting internal and external noiseThe Noise group of SENER has several successful projects

going on, concerning modelling and prediction of interior and

exterior noise in rolling stock. These programs are carried out in

close collaboration with the construction company, thus these

noise features can be dealt with during the development stage

of new units. SENER has handled projects for all types of rolling

stock: metro, tram, regional trains, high speed trains, etc.

SENER uses a semi-empirical method, combining advanced

simulation tools to which the group has access, with data

collection carried out during the testing stage. This methodology

was conceived by SENER and many of the IT tools used were

developed specifically by the Noise group.

In general terms, the jobs carried out can be grouped as follows:

noise studies on new units and preliminary on-track noise

studies. The noise study of new units begins with analysis of

the departure configuration and, subsequently, data is recorded

concerning the reference units. The insulation and noise

source data to be analysed are obtained during the measuring

stage, and will be used for the theoretical noise modelling and

prediction of the new units. The modifications applied to the

design are incorporated into the noise models in such a way that

the models reflect the current state of development at all times.

The results of the noise prediction made based on the updated

models are given to the construction company. If SENER

detects the possibility of exceeding established noise levels, the

company will make recommendations on how to proceed.

SENER also follows up the providers involved (HVAC, windows,

engine, insulation, etc.) to check correct compliance with the noise

requirements associated with the elements that they are going to

supply and to warn of possible discrepancies as far in advance as

possible. Likewise, noise specifications are drawn up as necessary,

to be followed by the providers of elements and subsystems.

21

The delivery of the last units in September 2009 marked the end

of the first TAURUS FASS (Fin Actuation Sub-System) contract,

a pioneering project which started in 2003 and gave rise to the

production activity at SENER and, with it, the Integration and

Test Division (ITD), which today consists of two specialised cen-

tres with around 100 employees between them. In the words

of José Julián Echevarría, who managed this project in its early

days, “TAURUS has given us credibility in the large-scale pro-

duction of actuation and control systems”.

TAURUS FASS was a major step forward for the company

which, faithful to its spirit of innovation and adventure, won

the production contract before it had the facilities required

to execute it. This was a brave but controlled move: SENER

was not dealing with a new product, since it had already

mastered the disciplines involved in TAURUS thanks to its

experience with mechatrons for the Space sector, where its

customers received manufactured units of great complexity.

Given its technical expertise, the customer was fully confi-

dent to award the contract to SENER. But TAURUS FASS im-

plied a shift in the company, from manufacturing unique units

in the aerospace sector to setting up an infrastructure that

would enable it, in the Defense field, to carry out production

activities involving hundreds of units of electromechanical ac-

tuator systems and their control electronics per year.

TAURUS FASS was a built-to-print contract, in which SENER was

required to execute the production contract, limiting itself to ma-

nufacturing the parts according to the customer’s specifications

(as regards design and suppliers), without the option (except with

customer approval) of making any changes. The project consis-

ted of producing actuators, control boxes and wiring harnesses.

However, during its execution, the company encountered various

errors or design weaknesses and proposed alternative solutions

to the customer. This is the added value SENER is able to offer as

an engineering firm: the ability to introduce design improvements

and guarantee an excellent end product.

TAURUS FASS involved a quantitative and a qualitative leap for

the company, since a large-scale internal restructuring opera-

tion was required to start its

production. Starting the new

production activity required

simultaneously starting other

activities: it was necessary to

implement a true production

method (inspection of the first

item, qualification of the pro-

duction line, etc.) and a pro-

duction-oriented quality me-

thod; to adapt the structure of

the sections involved, forming

large specialised task forces

(from the 8-10 people norma-

lly involved in project groups

in the Aerospace Division to

groups of 30-35 people); and

to build a new specific building to house this activity, the Building

8, located at the SENER offices in Madrid, equipped with facili-

ties for mechanical and environmental trials, test benches, ware-

houses, etc. And all with just enough time to deliver the first units

on schedule: the contract was signed in February 2003, Building

8 opened in February 2004 and the first TAURUS units rolled

off the line in June 2004. “It was a very good period, but it was

also quite stressful, with hindsight“, remembers Luis Fernando

Sánchez, who managed this project between November 2004

and November 2008, “because all the time we were progressing

on the project we were also developing production and testing

capability, purchasing vibration equipment, thermographic ca-

meras, installing them, learning to use them…”.

Before the production stage, it was necessary to develop

the industrialisation stage, two moments that overlap each

other continuously in this type of project. The goal of this

industrialisation phase was to define the production line, the

production processes and the supply chain, assess the su-

ppliers and produce the first units.

Furthermore, considering the particular nature of the profes-

sional profiles required for production, agreements were struck

with professional training centres to conduct training courses

clearly focussing on ITD activities, providing a first step for the

addition of new employees to the production lines.

Also, at the same time as these two more or less differentiated

steps of the project, it was necessary to generate all the internal

documentation required to complete the basic package or ‘Build

Standard’ which the customer initially provided, adapt it to the

internal procedures of SENER, guarantee compliance with the

specifications, design and develop the trial software, manufac-

ture the testing equipment and tools, etc. In short, to adapt the

product structure to SENER’s own production methods. In this

regard, the ITD was a pioneer in implementing the CIM SOFINSA

IPS system for integral management of production and logistics

in the TAURUS FASS project, which placed SENER’s ITD in the

avant-garde of the best comprehensive production practices, in

addition of creating an operational core between all the areas and

The last units of the TAURUS Fin Actuator Sub-System (FASS) have been delivered

The first units rolling out of the building in 2004.

22

disciplines of the projects, which can now share data in real

time. This production-control system is now applied in all the

large-scale production projects performed by the ITD at SE-

NER. Likewise, the ITD developed its own system for internal

encoding of parts and materials and, for the first time, used

Lean Manufacturing and 5S methods on this project, both of

which aim to provide improvements in the working environment

and the efficiency of the production line. The ITD was one of the

first divisions of SENER to manage its documents using SENEt,

an internal application for managing and controlling documenta-

tion life cycles, which was also used with TAURUS FASS for the

first time to implement and control the structure of the products

to be manufactured. Generally speaking, TAURUS FASS pro-

duced know-how that has enabled the successful performance

of other contracts, such as the Control Section for IRIS-T, in

which SENER was the design authority, or the NSM, another

built-to-print contract. TAURUS FASS set the foundations for

the current capabilities of the ITD, in defense products as well

as in the production of solar power systems.

The first TAURUS task force came from the ASD (AeroSpace Divi-

sion) and was made up of ten veteran employees plus four mode-

rators hired specifically for the programme, under the supervision

of José Julián Echevarria as Project Manager. From November

2004 to November 2008 the Project Manager was Luis Fernando

Sánchez, with José Manuel Ovando taking over after that. Over

these years, we can highlight the work of Alfonso Muñoz and Luis

The last units rolling out of the building in 2009.

Muñiz (Electronic Engineering), Juan Carlos Bahillo and Santiago

Pasalodos (Mechanical Engineering), Mercedes Vega (Configura-

tion Control), Jose Luis López Navarro and Ignacio Molinero (Pro-

duction), Unai López and Ignacio Pérez (Production Control), Jean

Paul Bennaceur (Procurement), etc.

SENER is still a young company in the field of integration and tes-

ting, with seven years of experience, during which it has already

made a name for itself on the market. Its portfolio of projects has

grown bit by bit and, regarding its capabilities, the company is in

a position to undertake comprehensive projects as a design au-

thority, in addition to executing built-to-print contracts, which are,

in the words of Luis Fernando Sánchez, “an excellent gateway

to major international contractors in the field of actuators and

control”. Projects such as TAURUS FASS, with more than 640

units shipped, and which has already been tested in flight, strictly

meeting all its deadlines, are an excellent presentation. TAURUS

FASS has opened up the possibility of offering multiple actuator

and control systems applicable in missiles, torpedoes, helicop-

ters, heliostat pointing mechanisms, etc. The ITD is diversifying its

activities by breaking into new markets, such as the solar power

market, while it continues to receive contracts in the defense in-

dustry for missiles and other products. In this market, the ITD is

hoping the TAURUS FASS project will continue, with new produc-

tion contracts in coming years, which would open a new cycle in

this successful project, which already holds a distinguished place

in the history of SENER.

Production units of the NSM control section.

During the last quarter of 2009, SENER has begun the delivery

of the first units of the production of the NSM missile’s control

section to Konsgberg Defence (Norway). The first delivered

units manufactured have been the components of the Pilot Lot,

consisting of two complete control sections. The Pilot Batch

units are regular units, manufactured with the same materials,

procedures, equipment, etc. as the rest which, after being sub-

jected to the standard acceptance campaign (environmental and

functional tests), are also subjected to additional verifications to

ensure the fulfillment of all the established requirements which

are applicable to the program. This is a key milestone for the

approval and certification of the production line.

Production starts for the control section of the NSM missile

23

New world-class manufacturing facilities are operating within

the Integration and Test Division since July. These facilities

are specifically dedicated to the series production of large

scale action and control mechanisms.

From a total area of 2,300 m2, 1,800 m2 are dedicated to

logistics, manufacturing and test purposes. The remaining

500 m2 accommodate offices and meeting rooms.

The new premises are designed for the manufacture of

very large and heavy electromechanical systems, weighing

After successfully passing the hospital validation phase,

SENER’s Laparoscopy Robot Assistant, SENRAL, is now a

commercial product. Shortly after being marketed in June 2009

it has already been used in two laparoscopy cholecystectomies

at the Hospital Clínico Universitario de Málaga – Virgen de la

Victoria.

Both operations were

successful, and the

medical team made a

very positive appraisal

of the robot’s functional

advantages, its precision

of movement and

how easy it was to

operate, both at start-

up and during use. The

New integration and test capabilities for large scale

actuation mechanisms

operations were supervised by Dr. Carlos Vara Thorbeck,

Head of the Hospital Surgery Department, Professor of

Surgical and Clinical Pathology of the University of Málaga

and ideologist of laparoscopy robot assistants.

SENRAL is a medical robot designed particularly for minimally

invasive laparoscopy operations. It releases the surgeon

from having to hold and guide the laparoscopy camera since

the camera is automatically positioned inside the patient’s

abdominal cavity following the surgeon’s voice commands.

Being a high-precision automatic system, camera position is

totally stable and provides very high-quality images.

SENRAL is the first surgical robot to be validated by the

Spanish Agency of Drugs and Health Devices, which reports

to the Ministry of Health and Social Policy. As a result, SE-

NER has obtained the exclusive licence to manufacture the

product.

The first operations with SENRAL concluded successfully

more than a ton. As a continuation of the success reached

throughout the integration and test of control and actuation

systems activity for the Defense sector, same manufacturing

practices and high efficiency production processes have

been implemented at this new installation.

Assembly and test of a series of 2,650 high accuracy two

axes drives for heliostats of the Gemasolar thermosolar

plant is the very first activity carried out at these new

facilities.

Surgery operation with SENRAL.

Interior of the new facilities of the Integration and Test Division.

24

n 2009, work got under way on the second phase of the project

of the Castor strategic Natural Gas (NG) storage plant, which

Escal UGS, subsidiary of the Spanish ACS and Canadian

multinational Eurogas, is building in Vinaroz (Castellón). This plant

can store gas from the national gas pipeline network in high-

pressure periods (injection phase) and return it to the network

when, due to an increase in demand or undersupply, network

pressure is reduced (extraction phase). SENER participates in

the engineering of this ambitious project from the conceptual

phase through to commissioning and start up.

The Castor plant is comprised of four main parts: a natural deposit

or reservoir, which is a former crude oil bed, located 20 km off the

coast of Vinaroz and at a depth of 2,000 metres below the sea bed;

two off-shore platforms, where the wellheads are located, as well

as the process equipment needed to carry out the second stage of

compression of the gas, in the injection phase, and the drying phase

in the extraction stage; a gas pipeline which connects the platforms

to the land-based operating plant, with a length of 30 km (20 of them

under the sea) and a diameter of 30 inches, and which works at

100 bars of pressure; and finally, a land-based operating plant which

makes up the on-shore part, containing the processes of the first

compression stage, in the injection phase, and sweetening, in the

extraction phase. It is located in the municipality of Vinaroz (Castellón,

Spain) near the AP-7 motorway. The on-shore plant comprises a total

surface area of 20 hectares, of which approximately half are used for

the process units, utilities and civil and control buildings, whereas the

original woodland has been conserved in the rest.

Once completed, Castor will be the largest off-shore storage plant

in Spain with a usable storage capacity of 1,300 million Nm3. The

plant will have an injection capacity of 4 million Nm3/day and an

extraction capacity of 25 million Nm3/day. Its operating capacity

will be equivalent to aprox 15 tanks of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG),

while its injection capacity into the network will be similar to a LNG

plant. It will also be the second plant with off-shore installations (at

the moment there is only one off-shore in Spain) and the first one

created exclusively for this purpose. Moreover, it will feature one of

the largest sweetening units in the world, located on shore. The total

investment amounts to about 1,200 million euros.

In the course of 2007 and 2008, the first stage, the FEED (Front

End Engineering and Design) stage, was performed, in which

SENER, as part of CASGAS OFF-SHORE temporary joint venture,

provided ESCAL UGS, S.L. with the technical assistance to

define the basic engineering work and the configuration of the

aforementioned installations (which determined what process

units are located on the off-shore platform and which ones are on

the on-shore part). Once the configuration of the installations had

been defined, as well as the detail engineering development work

required in the FEED/OBE (Open Book Estimate), the value of the

EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) of the ensemble

of the installations was calculated, with an approximation of ±15%.

SENER also estimated the on-shore part of the installations.

The second stage of the project is now ongoing, the detail engineering

and construction phase. SENER is participating in this second stage

with two contract awards: In March 2009, ACS-COBRA CASTOR,

as main contractor of ESCAL UGS, S.L., signed, with the CASGAS

joint venture, comprised of SENER and Cobra, the EPC agreement

to design, supply, build and start up the on-shore plant. SENER is

doing all the engineering in the CASGAS joint venture, and will also

participate in purchase management and in construction and start

up. Work began officially on April 1, 2009, and has an estimated

completion term of 39 months.

In March 2009, SENER and ACS-COBRA CASTOR also entered

into a second engineering agreement for different work related

to the rest of the project, such as the definition of the platform

process equipment, the drafting of the operating manual, etc.

In the framework of this agreement, SENER is responsible for

defining the overall process, as well as for design and support in

the purchase and manufacture of the equipment that has to be

installed in the off-shore platforms.

Detail engineering is being carried out and the equipment bought

in the course of 2009. Construction is expected to begin on the

land-based plant in March 2010.

Pemex Petroquímica has awarded to the consortium made

up of ACS Servicios, Comunicaciones y Energía, Dragados

Industrial, ACS Servicios, Comunicaciones y Energía México,

SENER and GTC Technologies the project to modernise and

increase aromatic production at La Cangrejera petrochemical

plant in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz (Mexico).

The project, scheduled to end on 30 December 2011,

consists of performing all the Engineering, Procurement and

Construction work (EPC or turnkey contract) for a platforming

plant with continuous catalyst reforming, which will improve

the efficiency of the naphtha reformation process by using

smaller amounts of raw material. The work will include the

construction of the reformation process unit using Platforming

technology and a unit for continuous catalyst regeneration,

as well as work on the necessary auxiliary services and

integration of the new units with the existing facilities.

SENER will modify La Cangrejera petrochemical plant

Artistic view of La Cangrejera petrochemical plant.

Second phase of the Castor project

25

In 2008, the consortium formed by SENER, Transporte Metropolitano

de Barcelona (TMB), Advanced Logistic Group, INCOPLAN,

Santander Investment, Colombia and Garrigues lawyers, was

awarded the contract to perform the ‘Conceptual design of the

massive underground transport network and operational design

and legal and financial planning of the first line of the underground,

within the framework of the Integrated Public Transport System

(ITPS) for the city of Bogota’. The Consultant Group (CG), led by

SENER, was awarded this contract thanks to the long-standing

experience of the companies involved in projects of the type

required by the Mobility Secretariat of Bogota, District Capital.

The work was structured in different stages, still in progress, which

comprised examination of the economic, urban and transport

characteristics of Bogota; the modelling of transport for different

scenarios in the city until 2038, as well as the regulatory and

financial analyses. On the basis of these analyses and by means

SENER has been in charge of the basic and detailed design of

the new Commuter Railway Station ‘Sol’ in Madrid. The design

contract was awarded at the end of 2001 and lasted until the

beginning of 2003. The design works were performed by a Joint

Venture with Eurocontrol. SENER took on the principal role and

the key disciplines of the project and also did the functional,

architectural and structural design.

The Sol Commuter Railway Station officially opened on 28th June

2009. The station comprises two clearly different parts: the platform

cavern and the access hall to the Puerta del Sol. The platform cavern,

just over 200 m long, 20 m interior width and almost 15 m high, is the

largest urban underground cavern built in Europe and includes two

lateral platforms connected by means of escalators and stairs with

a suspended platform (or mezzanine) located above the tracks. The

access hall to the Puerta del Sol is structured in five levels with a total

depth of around 30 m. It provides access from and to the surface,

as well as intermodal connections with the metro lines 1, 2 and 3.

The project also includes provision for a connection with the Gran

Via metro station. This access requires the adaptation of the Gran

Design of the first line of the Bogota Undergroundof a prior study of alternatives and their evaluation, the CG defined

the mass transport network for the ITPS, with Underground,

Transmilenio and Suburban Rail routes. Within this network, the

First Line of the Underground (PLM), around 26 km long, was

selected, with two thirds of the line located in tunnels. The surface

section takes advantage of a former railway track. The total route

has 29 stations. The technical particularities of the line have been

defined in terms of civil engineering, architecture, railway routes,

rolling stock, control systems, interferences with networks already

operating, etc., whereby it was possible to estimate the costs of

the different stages of activity. This background information was

used to define the operational design of the PLM, including the

fare structure integrated within the ITPS. As of this stage it will

be possible to establish the financial and legal plans, as well as a

detailed implementation plan for later development of the legal and

financial structuring of the contracts established in the future for

implementation of the PLM.

Bogota lacks an expeditious road network. The increase in private

vehicles, conventional collective transport and its bus rapid transit, or

BRT system, called the Transmilenio, have led to the collapse of the

road surface. The PLM will contribute to enriching the city’s public

transport, with 21st-century technology, minimising the impact

which travel inevitably produces in an urban setting, and integrating

with the different means available to the city. In this regard, the

Project Manager Esteban Rodríguez, architect and urban planner

of SENER, declared: “The planned Underground will be a mode

of transport with predicted capacities and times, unaffected by the

vicissitudes of surface occupation, which uses energy that is largely

renewable and recoverable, which connects areas of the city of

different social strata, which is integrated in a balanced fashion with

other means of public transport and which will have a positive effect

on the urban development of the surrounding areas, and in specific

locations such as the old railway station of La Sabana”.

Vía metro station prior to start operation. This project has been rated

as a success by all the Authorities involved (central, autonomous

community and municipal) and has aroused great expectations

in the public since the moment it was opened. SENER’s design

rendered it possible to construct, in a challenging setting in terms

of construction, geotechnical conditions, interference with existing

buildings etc., such as the Puerta del Sol of Madrid, an extremely

airy and spacious station, which is comfortable for the user, and

which has performed excellently since it opened in June 2009.

Building project for the Sol Surburban Rail Station

Bogota Metro layout.

Mezzanine and platform in the Sol Suburban Rail Station.

© M

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26

Current generation system for the wave flume

CIEM (UPC)

SENER has carried out the design and construction of a flow

generation system for the CIEM-ICTS wave flume. This project

was born at the beginning of 2008, within the framework of the

close collaboration between SENER and the research group

of the Department of Hydraulic, Marine and Environmental

Engineering of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC).

This group manages the Marine Engineering Laboratory (LIM),

a research centre that offers its services via three main lines

of activity: basic research, applied research and technological

development and, finally, knowledge transfer and divulgation.

Among the existing facilties in LIM, the 100 m long, 3 m wide

and 5 m deep Marine Research and Experimentation Flume

(CIEM-ICTS) stands out. The large dimensions of this wave

flume make it an infrastructure of excellence and a benchmark

in the large scale experimentation work in the fields of

coastal, port and oceanographic engineering, as well as in

aquaculture or in the testing of power devices, both within

the European Union and at a global level. This recognition has

been gained over time since its inauguration in 1993, thanks

to the accomplishment of a host of national and international

projects that, in 1997, earned it the classification of ‘Large

Scale Facility’ by the European Union, as well as that of

‘Singular Scientific-Technical Infrastructure’ from the Ministry

of Education and Science in 2006.

The objective of this project regarding the current generation

system for the CIEM-ICTS flume, which SENER has developed

under an EPC contract modality, was to broaden the range of

executable tests in the CIEM via construction of a generator

system of longitudinal currents in both directions. This system

also ought to be capable of simultaneous wave propagation

activity, with maximum wave heights of 1.6 m with a period

of 8 seconds, thanks to the swaying motion of the generator

paddle at the eastern end of the flume. Despite the fact that

large wave flumes are relatively common installations, only

a small number contain systems capable of pumping flow

volumes of sufficient size for the scale of the jobs habitually

performed at CIEM.

Besides, as opposed to this case, most of the existing large

scale facilities with current generation systems were designed

with this purpose in mind from their conception, which added

a number of additional structural conditions that had to be

considered during the design of the final solution. This design

phase, therefore, raised the challenge of finding a viable,

fully-integrated constructive solution, additionally limited by

the economic resources available, starting from the functional

requirements desired by the research group. These diverse

requirements spanned from the merely functional (current

generation in both directions and a maximum flow volume

of 2000 litres per second without wave disruption from

turbulence), to electrical (given the voltage limitation of the

building), and the aforementioned structural requirements,

derived principally from the fact that the flume is part of the

very foundations of the building. Finally, after a process that

required technical and economic evaluation of various options

with their possible modifications (at basic project level in some

cases), a system was chosen based on two pumping/intake

wells excavated in the foundations, connected to each other

via four lines of DN500 polythene pipelines, connected in

pairs at the ends via an adaptor of DN800 in both the vertical

and horizontal planes, that terminate directly at the wells. The

system thus uses the intake well (which could be either of the

two, depending on the desired circulation direction) to take

water from the flume basin and pump it, using the two pumps

located at the ends of the sets of pipelines, to the other

well (i.e. the blowing pump). For the hydraulic mechanism,

two DN800 stirrers were chosen, turning out to be the ideal

driving option for their capacity to lift large volumes of water to

low heights, their low consumption, high durability (they can

function in the presence of certain quantities of suspended

solids like sand, which is commonly found in the flume), and

versatility (they allow variation of the flow volume generated

via the power control). The design phase also encompassed

a final numerical simulation stage using the numerical particle

model of the CIMNE (UPC), with the two-fold objective of

checking the solution in hydrodynamic terms, and optimising

various features of the design, like the distance required

between the wells to obtain a stable flow, or checking the

entry flow velocity in the pumps.

The construction of the chosen solution, using primarily

manual labour due to the difficult work conditions in an

spatially constrained environment, started at the beginning of

2009, and was concluded in three months, with delays mainly

due to complications that emerged in the laborious process

of demolition and excavation.

Initial phase of the wave flume execution: underpined excavation.

27

SENER’s Transport Planning team has taken an active part in the

Passenger Transport Plan for Catalonia (2008-2012), presented

recently by the Catalan Regional Government. This plan’s main

objective is to analyse the current state of the transport system

in the Catalan region and obtain conclusions as to the possible

existence of eventual problems and to propose improvements to

cope with the mobility needs of the population.

SENER has participated in the section concerning railways,

making a diagnosis of the state of both the services and the

network in 2007 and drawing up a plan for management of the

rail network, outlining all new rail services in the region until 2012:

conventional regional trains, high speed intercity and commuter

trains, including outlining the new suburban networks centred

on Gerona, Lerida and Tarragona.

The Passenger Transport Plan for Catalonia (2008-2012), includes

a study carried out in 2007 by SENER on behalf of the Regional

Government, with the

objectives described above.

This study was developed

in four phases: a primary

diagnostic phase of the

system, wherein an analysis

was carried out of supply vs.

demand within the boundaries

defined by the Regional

Government: services and

infrastructures, mobility and

modal split. The second

phase involved definition

of ‘reference scenarios’,

respecting the directives of the

Transport Infrastructure Plan

of Catalonia (TIPC): service

levels and standards of quality

(minimum level) and minimum

profitability exploitation criteria.

In this definition of reference

scenarios all the infrastructures

Map of the Camp de Tarragona suburban network.

that the TIPC anticipated in the primary implementation phase

were included. The third phase was the mobility forecast within

the defined scenarios; and in the fourth and final phase, the

tailoring of the new services was carried out and the efficiency

of the supply vs. demand system was checked according to

the objectives discussed (modal split, rate of uptake). The action

proposals arising from this final phase were presented separated

into two periods: 2007-2011 and 2012-2016.

In the conclusions, SENER outlined three new suburban net-

works in Catalonia: Camp de Tarragona, Comarques del Ponent

and Comarques Gironines, in which the commuter services offe-

red were tailored to the accepted demand scenario. The regio-

nal train services were also defined, separated into firstly, high

speed intercity trains, running on the network of international

track width (UIC), for connections between provincial capitals

and attractor/generator centres, and secondly, conventional re-

gional trains which employ the Iberian track width network, for

local connections not served by suburban rail systems or high

performance regional trains.

SENER participates in the Passenger Transport Plan for Catalonia (2008-2012)

The Catalan Regional Government is going to apply the toll

policy presented by SENER within the framework of the study

‘Proposal for short-term restructuring of the toll road system

as a tool for mobility management in the metropolitan area of

Barcelona’.

This study has been developed in its entirety by SENER’s

Transport Planning team, which has implemented a model for

estimating the impact of these new pricing policies on mobility,

socioeconomic conditions of the franchise companies and

the alignment of the Community. The measures anticipate

implementation of variable tariffs in terms of the number of

passengers in the car, favouring the HOV, the contamination

index of the car according to the EURO classification and the

degree of CO2 emissions, time of day and number of times the

vehicle uses the road.

The initiative will be up and running within two years at the toll

barriers of Vallvidrera, Martorell, Garraf, Vilassar and Mollet, all

of which are within the metropolitan area of Barcelona, and it is

anticipated that this will be extended to the rest of the tolls of the

Catalan Community, when technology permits.

SENER develops the restructuring study for the toll road system of the Catalan Regional Government

Map of the Comarques Gironines suburban

network.

28

Parking platform of the docks.

accordance with the needs of the operating company (TITSA)

and the services required to ensure passenger comfort and

safety. The various uses of the building are arranged as

follows: a bus parking platform, located on the ground floor,

with passenger boarding/disembarkation platforms sheltered

by the roof; a passenger services building, containing the

public areas: ticket sales area, passenger information, waiting

areas, toilets, café, press stand, stairs and lifts and traffic-

master office. It is accessed from semi-basement floor -1

(pedestrian access) or via the core of stairs and lifts located

on semi-basement floor -2; restricted access areas for

interchange workers, containing changing rooms, a canteen

and offices, located on semi-basement floor -1; a car park

for private vehicles, located on semi-basement floor -2;

technical premises for the use of installations, located on the

various levels of the interchange; and a petrol station to allow

the buses to refuel, located on the by-pass lane for buses,

which connects the bus parking platform with Avenida Ángel

Guimerá Jorge and the TF-5 motorway.

The configuration of the roof of the service building is a unique

element in the volumetric configuration of the interchange.

Padre Anchieta transport interchange in Tenerife

Padre Anchieta transport

interchange aerial view.

Metropolitano de Tenerife S.A. entrusted to the joint venture

SENER-TENO the consultancy and technical support for

drafting the ‘Padre Anchieta Transport Interchange Construction

Project’ in December 2008. This interchange will be located

between the TF-5 northern motorway and Avenida Ángel

Guimerá Jorge, in the city of San Cristóbal de La Laguna, on the

island of Tenerife (Spain). SENER is designing the architecture,

structures, foundations and installations of the interchange.

The Padre Anchieta interchange is defined as an intermodal

station combining the following transport systems: buses,

private vehicles, trams, taxis, the future northern train line and

bicycles, without forgetting the pedestrian area.

The main determining factors for the design of the station

included its topographical location (existing spot height

difference of 9.5 m between the two opposite sides of the plot),

the need to connect the two roads that form its perimeter, the

visual impact of the plot from the motorway and the possibility

of future growth of the interchange.

The project, with a total floor area of 8,330 m2, is built on top

of two car parking platforms on semi-basement floors (only

one of which will be built during the initial phase), which are

a direct consequence of the existing topography, a large

parking platform for buses and a building containing the station

services. Construction of the structure is expected to require a

total of 570,000 kg of steel and 5,600 m3 of concrete.

The area of the building that houses the actual services of the

station is based on the concept of a large, dark volcanic rock,

which will cover the dock area, with its permeability allowing

the appearance of areas with natural light, both inside the

closed space (ticket sales and waiting area) and in the outdoor

dock area, by the creation of skylights.

To counteract the solidity of the roof, the intermediate space

between the parking platform of the docks and the roof is

designed to be as bright as possible, so that the user can

remain in a sheltered area while still being able to see the

buses. The functional program of the interchange is designed in

29

General view of the Rosa de Lima station.

On the ground floor, the building is designed as a wide

shopping street, guiding the passenger from the lobby to

the stairs, ramps and lifts that lead to the platform level.

The underpass of the tracks forms a street partially covered

by the rail platform, which grows wider at the end and is

naturally illuminated by a landscaped courtyard, located at

the northern end as a visual crown and resting area.

Notable elements of the project include, on the one hand, the

spatial brightness of its design, helping the passenger to unders-

tand the building and its functionality at a single glance and, on

the other hand, the set of shelters that protect the platform area,

which form a representative element of the overall image of the

station complex and set the station apart as a singular crossing

point in the linearity of the railway infrastructure.

Burgos Rosa de Lima station construction project

In 2003, the Spanish Ministry of Public Works and Transport

commissioned SENER to draw up the construction project

for a new railway station in Burgos (passenger building,

shelters and platforms) as well as for urban development

of the surrounding area. This project, performed entirely by

SENER with no participation of external contractors, was

delivered in March 2006.

Construction work lasted 24 months, and the new Burgos

station, christened Rosa de Lima station, opened officially in

December 2008.

The new railway station in Burgos is located in the north of

the city, between the districts of Villatoro and Villamar. The

first phase of the station has now been completed, including

five tracks to Iberian gauge. In a second phase, three of these

tracks will be converted to international standard gauge, and

another track, also to international standard gauge, will also

be installed. In this way, in its final layout, the station will have

four tracks to international standard gauge and two tracks

to Iberian gauge, allowing it to handle both high-speed and

conventional line traffic.

The station project includes the lobby building and the

shelters that cover the platforms. It is a construction that

emerges from its natural surroundings and, from the horizon,

it appears as a stratum that rises up from the landscape. The

structure covers the central track area horizontally, rising up

at its middle point, continuing with the transversal movement

of the land on which it sits.

Therefore, the most important ‘facade’ of the station is actually its

roof, which extends on every side to cover the bus dock area.

The volume of the roof is made up of perforated aluminium

sheets with extruded panels (3,500 m2) which provide an

image of permeability and a pitted texture. The project has

been designed to make the most of the material used during its

manufacturing process, and all its parts are clearly defined and

located. The RHINO computer tool was used for this purpose.

A Pratt truss system with a thickness of 4 m has been

used to support the 1,500 m2 roof, which has a right-angle

triangular plan, the sides of which have approximate lengths

of 30 and 40 m and, with projections of 7 and 9 m from the

perimeter columns of the facade.

Also, to prevent the transmission of vibration from the dock

area, caused by the constant manoeuvres of the buses,

the decision has been taken to separate the outdoor area

from the indoor area of the building. For this, a perimeter

expansion joint was built, isolating the two areas from the

effects of the transmission of vibrations.

The work has started in October 2009 and end is expected

in March 2011. Delivery of the project to the service operator

is scheduled for April 2011.

Platforms and lobby building .

30

Basic Design in FORANTHE CHALLENGE IN STRUCTURE BASIC DESIGN: FROM

TRADITIONAL 2D DRAWINGS TO THE EARLY SHIP MODEL

IN 3D.

In shipbuilding, the definition of a ship project usually

comprises three stages, initial, basic and detail. The use of a

3D model of the ship is very common during the detail design

stage, but the basic design is still based on 2D drawings

although it is the stage where the most part of the costs

are compromised, which means long design periods, a lot

of work repeated in subsequent stages and many design

inconsistencies. This all gives rise to a major increase in

costs and low production performance.

In order to improve this situation, a new way of working is

taking over from the traditional method, which includes,

in the basic design stage, an early 3D model of the ship,

using the same tool that will be employed in the detail and

production phases. Although at first sight the detail design

process might seem more complicated, in the long run the

advantages are enormous and lie mainly in the reuse of

information. As a fundamental requirement for the solution

to be efficient, the generation of the classification drawings

for approval should be simple, as well as the transference of

the model to the analysis tools.

SENER uses its wide experience in ship design and

engineering to provide the FORAN System with the most

advanced tools for the definition of a ship 3D model in the

early design stages, to be used during basic and detail

design and production phases too. Building and early 3D

model in FORAN allows to improve the design process of

the ship and to study different design alternatives in short

periods of time which reduces times and costs. As a result,

it is possible to reach a better design performance to obtain

a product of high quality in a very competitive way.

Philosophy and principles of the FORAN solution

The FORAN solution is based on the integration of all the

design stages and disciplines, thanks to a single data base,

which moreover permits the implementation of collaborative

engineering and guarantees the information integrity.

The definition of the model is very simple thanks to the

advanced functions implemented in FORAN. The topological

model facilitates the definition of the 3D model, allows the

quick study of different design alternatives and simplifies the

implementation of changes and modifications, which are

very common in the early design stages.

The primary key to the process lies in the definition of a single

3D ship model, which will be used in all stages by means

of a progressive top-down definition. While the project is

progressing, the level of detail is improving and the different

parts of the model are subdivided. The solution delivered by

FORAN includes tools that facilitate the direct transition to

the detail design by means of simple operations that include

the division of blocks and the termination of the model with

attributes for the production phase.

Modelling sequence

The generation of the model in FORAN is flexible being

possible to create seamless surfaces and profiles at any

time. Division by blocks is optional and the level of detail of

the 3D model during the basic design stages is as required

by the classification drawings, both regarding to the parts

included (brackets, collars, etc.), and other characteristics

(profile end cuts, notches, etc).

The modelling sequence in FORAN is described below, and

begins with the definition of the material catalogues. The

forms of the hull, deck surfaces and bulkheads will be created

in the module for surface definition. The structure module is

used to create the major openings in the hull, the scantling of

the main surfaces will be performed (plates and profiles) and

the main structure elements will be generated (web frames,

beams, stringers, etc). The profiles are then generated on the

main surfaces.

Surface definition

FORAN has two complementary tools for surface definition.

The traditional tool permits the definition of the hull surface,

both conventional or special forms, such as non-symmetrical

ones, multi-hull and platforms. The tool includes advanced

smoothing options and permits the performance of quadratic

transformations of the forms of the hull and the automatic

generation of tables and drawings.

FORAN also incorporates an additional tool for latest-

generation mechanical design that can be used for improving

hull forms, implement parametric design and global surface

modelling.

A new module will be added to FORAN in the near future for

the definition of the general layout of a ship taking advantage

of working in 2D and 3D modes. This new tool will permit

the design and management of all ship spaces and render

the preliminary layout of equipment and accommodation,

with a very modern and user-friendly interface that provides

different design alternatives very rapidly.

Hull and deck profiles and plates

This stage involves the topological definition of butts, seams,

holes and curved plates. The information for the plate

development is generated for preliminary lists of material, and

the longitudinal and transversal structure is designed by using

frame or longitudinal systems. End cuts of parametric profiles

are then defined and the solid modelling of curved plates is

performed (including thickness) and of profiles (including web,

frame and end cuts).

31

Internal structure

The FORAN advanced functions enable the user to quickly

define and modify plates, profiles, holes and face bars.

The work subdivision is done using the concept of surface,

structural element and area. Part division is made by means

of attributes of structural elements. In the same way, multiple

advanced options are available for splitting, editing and

multiple copying plates and profiles.

Outputs from the 3D model

The main purpose during the ship basic design is to obtain the

classification drawings for approval (hull and deck drawings,

sections and detail drawings). FORAN has an integrated tool

for the automatic generation of drawings associated with

the 3D model. Drawings can be regenerated automatically

after changes and there are also options for automatic

dimensioning and labelling by means of user-configurable

formats and templates.

The different types of reports that can be generated (weights

and centres of gravity, painted surface, material orders, etc) are

configurable and may be exported to Excel, HTML and ASCII.

The drawings are also compatible with the Autocad program.

Link with finite element tools

One of the most relevant aspects during the basic engineering

of a ship is the structural analysis by means of the application

of the Finite Elements Method (FEM), which makes possible to

improve and validate the feasibility of the design. In practice, it is

a laborious task that requires the preparation of a suitable model

for calculation, meshing, the application of loads and constraints,

processing, post-processing and analysis of the results.

Most finite element tools include standard formats for

the direct import of 3D CAD models, but they fail when

these models come from the shipbuilding industry due to

the complexity of ship models. The effort required in the

simplification of the model is such that it is more efficient

to repeat the model with a calculation-oriented approach,

which slows down the analysis process dramatically.

The use of a ship model already created in a 3D CAD for

FEM analysis would optimise design performance in the

early stages. For this, there must be an efficient link between

both tools so that a simplified ship model adapted to each

type of calculation can be exported directly from CAD.

SENER’s approach to this problem combines its broad

experience in the development of a CAD/CAM shipbuilding

tool with innovative solutions to obtain the expected results:

a link that makes possible to export a simplified ship

model, leveraging its topological characteristics. Functional

algorithms in FORAN allow the creation of an intelligent

model, simplifying, filtering and deleting unnecessary data

to guarantee the quality of the model transferred.

Transition from basic design to detail design

The great advantage provided by the development of basic

design in FORAN is that the transition to detail design will

be done continually and will permit the reuse of all the

information. Thus, as a logical continuation of the basic

design, FORAN provides tools for subdividing and joining

plates and profiles, and also features additional attributes

for detail design such as labelling, building margins and

shrinkage factors, and also for defining parts that are not

relevant during the basic design stages.

Conclusion: advantages of the early 3D model in FORAN

As has already been mentioned, most of the costs of a ship

are compromised during the initial design stages. FORAN is a

solution that delivers tangible benefits: it optimises the process

by reducing the time dedicated to design and cost.

FORAN improves design quality, provides greater precision

and reduces the risk of inconsistencies. The rapid evaluation

of several design alternatives and the early estimation of

materials, weights, welding and painting are additional

advantages, in addition with the efficient link with finite

element analysis tools. Finally, it

also facilitates the definition of the

outfitting (general layout and layout

of critical compartments) and

improves the coordination between

disciplines. In conclusion, the key

points are the simple transition

to detail design and the reuse of

information.

This substantial change in the

development of the basic design

stage, which is now being required

and implemented, is expected to

become the routine way of working in

the future.

32

Bureau Veritas and SENER

test the results of the CAS

Project in the tanker Bahía Uno

The EU-funded CAS project (Condition Assessment

System), led by Bureau Veritas (BV) and where SENER was

a major player, had the purpose of cutting the time and

costs to process thickness studies of the structure of a

ship in operation, taking advantage of the ship 3D model

previously created in a CAD system. This model can be

exported through an HCM standard file to the monitoring

tools developed by the Classification Societies.

SENER has exported the FORAN 3D model of Bahía Uno,

by means of the HCM standard file, to be used by Bureau

Veritas for running 3D model-based monitoring tools. Bahía

Uno, built in 2004 in Astilleros de Murueta in Spain and

classed by Bureau Veritas, is a double hull tanker supply

vessel with a length of 71.01 m, a breadth of 15.6 m, depth

of 7.75 m and draught of 5.6 m.

The FORAN 3D model of the ship will be used in the monitoring

tool developed by Bureau Veritas, which incorporates

virtual reality techniques and offers immediate worldwide

access. Systematic comparison and consistency checks of

measurement campaigns including thickness measurements,

visual assessments of coatings, and visual inspection for

cracking, will trigger electronic alerts. Repair decisions and

residual lifetime of the structure will be calculated with modern

methods of risk-based maintenance modelling. The model can

be updated after each measurement campaign.

With this test, Bureau Veritas and SENER test the results

of the CAS project in a real vessel. This project is expected

to speed up the failure monitoring process and repair times

with the aim of reducing marine disasters, specially caused

by tankers and bulk carriers.

The Italian engineering company GP Service S.R.L. has entered

into an agreement with SENER for the license to use the FORAN

CAD/CAM System in their ship design activities in Italy.

The agreement includes the implementation of the complete

FORAN hull structural package, forms generation and

advanced design and drafting. Designers from GP Service

have received on-site training in the disciplines of the FORAN

System during 2008. GP Service is currently using FORAN

Escort tug for Union Naval Valencia ShipyardSENER is currently developing the detail engineering of hull

structure and outfitting for the escort tug that will be built at Union

Naval Valencia (UNV) Shipyard. The tug belongs to a series of

four, two for the ship-owner Moran Towing Corporation and the

other two for Costa Azul. The scope of the project developed by

SENER includes the hull forms fairing, the definition of the ship

3D model and the generation of all the necessary information

for manufacturing and assembling, using its own FORAN CAD/

CAM System.

The escort tug, with azimuth propulsion, has been designed

for a highly efficient performance in the areas of ship-handling,

escort, oil recovery and fire-fighting. The ship main particulars

are 32m of length, a beam of 13.20 m and a depth of 5.55 m.

About the design draft, it takes 4 m while the speed is 13.5

knots. The first unit of this series, named ‘SMBC Monterrey’ will

be delivered soon.

The close collaboration between UNV and SENER began twenty

years ago, and has allowed SENER to design and develop a wide

variety of tugs and also other types of ship. A good example is

the project developed by SENER for the new tug for high-seas

towage and salvage for the Spanish SASEMAR (Maritime Salvage

and Security Society). UNV shipyard has already built a series of

four sister ships and will build another series of three. The scope

of the project developed by SENER included the contract, basic

and detail engineering of structure and outfitting.

SENER has recently developed different levels of engineering for

other tugs for UNV shipyard, such as the two Voith escort tug for

Grupo Boluda and another two for Shetland Island Council.

to develop the hull structure of yachts. With this new license

agreement SENER continues in its line of making FORAN

a major player in the field of ship design and production

software. The System can be use in the entire range of ship

design disciplines: Forms, Naval Architecture and General

Arrangement, Hull Structure, Outfitting, Electrical, Build

Strategy, Drafting, Virtual Reality & Design Review, Design

Change and Access Control, PLM.

GP-Service uses FORAN for structure yachts design

Bahía Uno tanker.

SMBC Monterrey escort tug.

33

The EIB provides 80 million Euros for the Gemasolar’s innovative solar power project

Construction work at the plant.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has granted a loan of

80 million Euros to GEMASOLAR 2006 SAU to finance the

construction and commissioning of a Concentrated Solar

Power (CSP) plant in Fuentes de Andalucía (province of Se-

ville, Spain) of the same name. EIB VicePresident Carlos da

Silva Costa and the Chairman of Torresol Energy, Enrique

Sendagorta, signed the finance contract

last November 16th in Madrid.

The EIB VicePresident hailed “this impor-

tant technological development, which

chimes perfectly with EU energy policy and

which the Bank is proud to finance. New

energy technologies are essential to mee-

ting the EU’s climate change mitigation,

energy security and corporate competitive-

ness targets”.

Enrique Sendagorta, Torresol Energy’s

Chairman, said “we are highly satisfied

with the EIB’s support for the launch of

Gemasolar, which is a truly innovative solar

power plant and the world’s first commer-

cial-scale project built with this technology.

We are confident that central tower tech-

nology using molten salt offers the greatest

development potential for the future”.

With a nameplate power of 17 MW, the new plant is a glo-

bal pioneer in the commercial application of CSP technolo-

gy and the only existing commercial-scale solar power de-

monstration project based on a central tower receiver and

heliostat field and an innovative molten salt heat storage

system. This storage system will allow independent power

generation for up to 15 hours with no so-

lar input while increasing energy efficiency

by enabling electricity production for some

6,600 hours a year – around 2.5-3 times as

much as other renewable energies.

Gemasolar thermosolar plant is the flags-

hip project of Torresol Energy Investment

SA, owned 60% by the Spanish enginee-

ring group SENER, with the remaining 40%

belonging to the Masdar Company, the

company that develops renewable ener-

gies and is owned by the Government of

the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Once built, the Gemasolar plant will supply

clean and secure energy to 25,000 house-

holds, will reduce CO2 emissions by more

than 30,000 tonnes a year, and willcreate

around 1,000 direct jobs during the cons-

truction phase.

Gemasolar artistic view.

34

Line 9 of the Barcelona underground system will be the longest

driverless line or UTO (Unattended Train Operation) line in Europe

when its 48 km have been completed in 2014. It will comprise 52

stations, located in Barcelona, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, El Prat

de Llobregat, Badalona and Santa Coloma de Gramanet, which

will connect up with the other underground lines. In this way, line 9

will link the airport, the port, fair and exhibition sites, industrial areas,

residential areas and the centre of Barcelona. The first section, 4 km

long and with 5 stations, is already in the testing period and will be

launched by the end of the year. Line 9 is regarded as the work with

the highest investment in the history of the Autonomous Government

of Catalonia.

The wide participation of SENER in this project, in hand with its clients,

GISA (Gestió de Infraestructures, S.A.) and IFERCAT (Infraestructures

Ferroviaries de Catalunya), adds an important reference to other big

urban transport infrastructure projects: SENER has been working

several decades in projects all around four continents, such as

the expansion plan of Valencia metro, as well as metros in Lisbon,

Oporto, Madrid, Algiers, Bogota, Qatar, Santiago de Chile…

SENER activity in line 9 starts with the drafting of the Functional

Project, a document that details the functional definition, or

conceptual engineering, both of the complete line and of the

explotaition model, a key subject for an UTO line. This document

and its following reviews are the fundamental base for the design,

construction and start up processes, as it will be the guideline to

check that the expected functionalities are accomplished in all of

the phases and, in case of design changes, to evaluate the impact

in those functionalities.

At the same time, it will be the guideline in the preparation process

for exploitation by the operator, as well as of the checking, in the

delivery moment, of the functionalities the line must accomplish, so

it regulates the contractual process between the operator and the

infraestructures’s owner.

SENER participation in the design phase has also been remarkable,

with the development of projects of fundamental systems such as:

the Automated Train Control (ATC) system and Central Control Post

(CCP), platform closure system, power (traction and distribution in

MT), Technical Assistance (TA), fixed and in motion telecommunication

systems, ticketing, electromechanical equipments, etc., as well as

the civil works in one of the sections, of 11 km long.

Besides, SENER takes part in the work management of the

aforementioned systems, as well as in the Technical Assistance

Contract for Systems and Infrastructures Integration Engineering,

known as ‘ATI’, which objective is to guarantee line 9’s functionality

and safety requirements for its start up.

An automatic system that wins in safety

An automatic driving system (ATC – CBTC) affords users greater

safety, regularity and availability of service, besides greater flexibility

to adapt supply to demand, since trains are automatically added

to or withdrawn from the line according to transport needs.

The automated system has a CCP with qualified personnel,

which controls all operations and supervises the movement of

trains according to overall traffic. A second emergency control

post, capable of taking control if the main post goes down,

guarantees that the installations will operate perfectly.

Continuous communication will be established between the

CCP and the trains to adjust intervals and timetables, and in

turn other telecommunications systems are implemented to

keep passengers informed and supervise safety throughout the

line. In this way, both the trains and the stations of line 9 will

be fitted with video-monitoring cameras, a total of 2,500, that

send images in real time to the control post. They will also have

telephony, intercom and PA systems to guarantee communication

both between the actual controllers and passengers and the

emergency services. These systems are articulated through two

independent data networks, so that most of the voice, video and

data traffic converge on the same IP platform.

All this implies that non-railway telecommunications are a

critical operating factor. The communication networks transport

information that is vital for operations, such as energy or rolling

stock remote control and voice communication with passengers

inside the train. Moreover, the technological convergence

of current voice and data networks and services to IP-based

technology renders it necessary for these technologies to be

added to the core of the communication project. Moreover, line

9 will be one of the safest in Spain thanks to its platform closure

system by means of panels that will prevent access by users to

the track and the opening of these doors will be synchronised

with the opening of the train doors. This platform closure system,

which is present in some undergrounds in Europe, delivers other

advantages such as the improvement of the air-conditioning

system and sound insulation of the platforms.

The design and work management of all these systems entails a

technological and management challenge which means that the

SENER team in charge of supervising the draft and managing the

project must have specific training and be highly experienced.

To these activities it must be added SENER participation in the ‘ATI’,

with innovative methodologies that ensure the technical, functional

and safety integration of the line, and that is described below.

Integrated Engineering of the whole line: a technical and

logistical challenge

The technical complexity, as well as the coordination effort, that

represents a rail line, requires a global project management so to

ensure the right start up of the line.

In this sense, there are two key points that make even more critical

the starting up of the line in optimal conditions: on the one hand,

the delivery of the line to an operator for starting the line exploitation,

under a contractual relationship with the infrastructures’ owner

(IFERCAT). And, on the other hand, the construction split in different

Line 9 of the Barcelona underground: an integration challenge

Station interior.

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contracts, that implies a remarkable coordination effort. GISA,

conscious if this important compromise, and with SENER’s

support, tackles the transversal coordination between the

companies and the work managements related to the line, with

four objectives: the homogenization of all the technical solutions

applied; the technical and functional coordination of all the

interfaces; the ensurance of the functional compliance of each

subsystem, system, and, in a global manner, of the line; and also

the ensurance of the safety levels.

WORK INCLUDED IN THE ATI:

Functional Assurance

This activity consists of ensuring that the line 9 railway system

has the operating capacity and the functionalities required in the

design. The design review phase is differenciated through the

detail and constructive projects developed by the construction

companies, the installation companies and the suppliers, for

each one of the subsystems (communications, energy, platform

doors, etc.), of which there are 37 in total. A set of documents

was prepared for each one of them, detailing, in an itemised

and systematic way, all the functionalities demanded prior to the

definitive launch and, in a dynamic way, their evolution is analized

along the design phases, with the objective of ensuring that all

the organisations rigorously comply with these specification so

as to avoid a possible failure of any functionality.

Interface resolution

The subsystems of line 9 have external interfaces with other

subsystems. These interfaces are physical and functional. For

example: platform door opening must be synchronised with train

doors, with ATC system and with user information panels, but at the

same time the physical interface with the platform, the dynamic wide

dimension, the gap between the vehicle and the platform, the power

security area in the platform, etc. must be solved, when there are

many technologies to integrate and many suppliers to coordinate.

To resolve this issue, the ATI technical team has contacted all

the companies involved and participates proactively in order to

solve any barriers between them and to apply the most efficient

solution. Five hundred functional interfaces have been identified

that must be completely solved for the launch of the system.

Moreover, the physical interfaces are solved mainly on site.

Safety

For Line 9 to begin its commercial operations, exploitation that

will be in charge of TMB (Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona),

official organisations must certify the safety of the overall system

from the railway standpoint. To do so, a safety dossier based

partially on the Cenelec European Standard has been prepared,

and includes an Overall Risk Analysis, a Transport System

Safety Plan, a Hazard Log and other documents related to the

system’s intrinsic safety. Once the basic documents had been

established, the safety requirements to be fulfilled by each

one of the subsystems in accordance with the scope of each

contractual specifications sheet were established with each Site

Manager. IFERCAT, as owner and manager of the line 9, will deal

with the safety dossier with the official entities.

Testing

Once the testing phase (both serie and tipe tests) of every equipment

are completed by each of the suppliers, a System Testing General

Plan starts, with the objective of validating the right function of the

globality of the line, including the vehicles movement in accordance

with the functionality and safety requirements.

In the testing process different levels are progressively analized:

equipments, subsystems and systems. The ATI team evaluates,

from a functional and safety point of view, each subsystem

separately, and after that analises its operation with the related

subsystems, and this goes on and on until the compliance of all

the system in global is verified.

This process requires global coordination of all the activities

that will be carried out in the system during the testing phase,

including the train movement, until delivery to the operator. This

coordination from the ATI is necessary to ensure that the tests

are efficiently performed between all the contractors and with

the required rail safety guarantees.

The opening of the first section is envisaged for the end of 2009,

while the final section will be officially opened in 2014.

Bottom station vertical tranportation.

Bottom station lower lobby.

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THE MARINE STRATEGIC BUSINESS UNIT AT INTERNATIONAL TRADE FAIRS

EUROPEAN

FUTURE

ENERGY FORUM 2009 IN BILBAOSENER and Torresol Energy

participated in the European

Future Energy Forum held

in the Bilbao Exhibition

Centre (BEC) in June 9th

to 11th. The companies

showcased their technology

and projects in the field

of thermosolar power on

their 100 m² stand. The

model of the Gemasolar

Plant, the SENERtrough

cylindrical-parabolic

collector or the heliostat

pointing mechanism were

but some of the projects

on exhibit. Both companies

played a relevant role

in the conferences and

presentations: on the one

hand, the architect Esteban

Rodríguez delivered a

presentation on ‘Facade

heliostats. A technology for

saving lighting energy in

service buildings’; Torresol

Energy also participated with

‘Operating Solar Plants with

Energy Storage’ given by

the Chief Infraestructures

Officer Santiago Arias.

In the photo, the

President of SENER,

Jorge Sendagorta, and

the Chairman of Torresol

Energy, Enrique Sendagorta,

show the Chairwoman of

the World Future Council,

Bianca Jagger, and the CEO

of Masdar, Sultan Ahmed Al

Jaber, around the stand.

SENER TAKES

PART IN THE

PARIS AIR SHOW 2009The Le Bourget Paris Air

Show held its 48th event last

June. This show, regarded

as the most prestigious in

the world and which brings

together the main compa-

nies in the aerospace sector,

also featured the partici-

pation of SENER, which

presented its most important

projects at a stand in the

Spanish pavilion.

The sunshade of the GAIA

Satellite, the Guidance and

Control systems (AOCS/

GNC) of the Herschel and

Planck satellites, section

19.1 of the new Airbus A350

model or missile’s control

and actuation systems were

some of the work developed

by SENER and which were

on show at the fair.

Some of the visitors to the

SENER stand were po-

liticians and the military,

including the delegation of

the Secretary of Defense

(SEDEF), the Director Gene-

ral of Armament and Material

(DiGAM), the Chief of Staff

of the Air Force (JEMA), the

Basque Government, etc.

In the photo, the Secretary

General for Industry, Teresa

Santero, is greeting the

Director of SENER’s Space

Department, Diego Rodrí-

guez, accompanied by the

VicePresident of SENER,

Andrés Sendagorta.

The Marine Strategic Business Unit (Marine SBU) has

recently participated in some important international events.

The eighth edition of COMPIT, the International Conference

on Computer Applications and Information Technology in

the Maritime Industries, took place in Budapest from May

10th to 12nd. During the conference, Rafael de Góngora,

Naval Architect from SENER, presented a paper titled: ‘A

comprehensive environment for efficient HVAC design.

The FORAN solution’, and was the Chairman of one of the

conference sessions.

From June 9th to 12th, personal staff of the Marine SBU

participated with a stand in NOR-SHIPPING 2009, one of the

main international shipbuilding sector trade fairs, held every

two years in Norway. The new release of FORAN System

V60R3.0 was presented during the fair.

Finally, it can be mention the 14th edition of ICCAS

(International Conference on Computer Applications in

Shipbuilding), held in Shanghai from September 1st to 3rd.

The conference was organised by the Royal Institution

of Naval Architects (RINA) and the Shanghai Society of

Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SSNAME). SENER

engineers Alfonso Cebollero, Roberto Penas and Guangwu

Liu presented the following three papers: ‘Integrated

management of the compartments of a ship’, ‘A neutral link

for the integration of CAD with product life cycle systems’

and ‘Greater efficiency in the use of CAD/CAM technology in

Chinese shipyards’, respectively.

SENER was also represented by Shigeru Kasai from the

Okayama office, and by a large part of the UFC

FORAN team, SENER’s distributor in China: Susa Hu, Will

Kuang, Jeff Song, Tom Song, John Yinhua and Iven Zhang.

Besides these three outstanding events, the Marine SBU

participated at other international trade fairs, including

NEVA, that took place in Saint Petersburg in September

from 22nd to 25th, and INMEX India, held in Bombay, from

September 24th to 26th.

37

CONFERENCE

BY ÁLVARO AZCÁRRAGA AT

THE RAIOn June 23, Álvaro Azcárraga,

Doctor in Aeronautical

Engineering and SENER

Consultant, gave the

presentation ‘Strategies

for avoiding or absorbing

collisions with other celestial

bodies’ in the programme of

the congress on Planetary

Protection of the Tuesdays

Sessions of the Royal

Academy of Engineering (RAI).

PRESENTATION OF BIOSENERLast May 30 and 31, SENER presented

BIOSENer, the real-time physiological

status monitoring system, developed as

part of the Future Combatant (COMFUT)

Programme of the Ministry of Defense.

On an invitation from the Office of the

COMFUT Programme, the company

presented, in the space dedicated to

the technologies developed for the

Combatant, BIOSENer, with the improvements made to the

system, such as multi-user monitoring, the broad coverage

wireless communication system, the geographic location

system, as well as civil applications.

THE DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF ARMAMENT AND MATERIAL VISITS SENERThe Directorate General of

Armament and Material of the

Spanish Ministry of Defence

visited SENER offices in Tres

Cantos (Madrid) in June. This

body is responsible for the

preparation, planning and

development of armament

and material policy and for

supervision and direction of

its execution.

The Vice-President of

SENER, Andrés Sendagorta,

accompanied by the

Managing Director of the

Aerospace Business Strategic

Unit, Rafael Quintana, and

the Project Manager of

METEOR and SHORAD,

Fernando Quintana, received

the committee, which

included the Director General

of Armament and Material

of the Ministry of Defence,

Manuel García Sieiro, the

General Subdirector of

Planning and Programs and

Air Force General, Jesús

Pinillos Prieto, and the Wing

Commander, Carlos Calvo

González- Regueral.

During the visit there was

a presentation introducing

SENER’s activities and a tour

of the Integration and Test

Centre of the company.

SENER MADRID

RECEIVES A

VISIT FROM THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR DEFENSEA delegation from the Spanish

Secretariat of State for

Defense visited the offices of

SENER in Tres Cantos (Madrid)

in July. The deputation, made

up of the Secretary of State

for Defense, Constantino

Méndez, accompanied by his

Cabinet Director, Francisco

de Argila Lefler, as well as

the Cabinet Advisor, Pedro

Fuster, and the Director of

the Secretary’s Technical

Department, Álvaro de

Zunzunegui, were received by

the VicePresident of SENER,

Andrés Sendagorta, and

the General Manager of the

Aerospace Strategic Business

Unit, Rafael Quintana. After the

scheduled meeting, a visit to

the Integration and Test Centre

of SENER took place.

SENER AND TORRESOL ENERGY FEATURE

AT SOLARPACES 2009SENER and Torresol Energy have actively participated in the

international symposium ‘SolarPACES 2009, electricity, fuels and

clean water powered by the sun’, a biennial event that today

represents the foremost world conference in the Concentrating Solar

Power (CSP) sector. The 2009 edition has taken place in Berlin, from

September 15th to 18th. Experts from SENER and Torresol Energy

participated with the conferences entitled “Experience with molten

salts thermal storage’ and ‘Commercial application of SENERtrough’,

which were given by SENER engineers Sergio Relloso and Nora

Castañeda respectively. The company also provided key knowledge in

how to undertake a CSP project in the conference entitled ‘Production

risk analysis in commercial plants’, given by engineer Roberto Calvo,

as well as in the poster ‘Modularization’, presented by Yolanda

Gutiérrez, Coordinator of the Solar Power Development section.

From Torresol Energy, Chief Infrastructures Officer Santiago Arias

was on hand to present ‘Operative advantages of a central

tower solar plant with thermal storage system’, a study conducted in

collaboration with Technology Director Juan Ignacio Burgaleta

and Ibon Beñat, from the Technology R&D Department. Finally,

Miguel Domingo, SENER Solar Business Manager, participated in

the Panel Discussion ’CSP Project Development Challenges’,

as it is shown in the picture below.

FINGERPLUS

SUSTAINABILITY

FORUMSENER and Torresol Energy

participated as sponsors and

speakers in the first edition of

FINGERPLUS, a technology

forum for training and employ-

ment aimed at engineers and

R&D&I leaders, that took place

in Madrid on the 29th and 30th

of October. In its first edition,

this forum was a meeting

point to find out about R&D&I

activities, like career plans and

professional training, in key

sectors of engineering like in-

formation and communication

technologies, clean technolo-

gies, environment, renewable

energies, energy efficiency and

bioclimatic architecture.