SPECIAL AKOTRACE® ELECTRICAL HEAT-TRACING SOLUTION FOR CSP GEMASOLAR

1. SPECIAL AKOTRACE ® ELECTRICAL
HEAT TRACING SOLUTION FOR
GEMASOLAR
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SPECIAL AKOTRACE ® ELECTRICAL
HEAT TRACING SOLUTION FOR GEMASOLAR
Project Sheet
TEMPORARY JOINT VENTURE: SENER- COBRA
PROMOTER: TORRESOL ENERGY
CSP TECHNOLOGY: Tower CSP with direct molten salts.
LOCATION: Fuentes de Andalucía (see map)
HEAT TRACING SYSTEM TECHNICAL DATA:
• Electrical heat-tracing system turnkey solution
• 10 engineers and 40 fitters.
• 12 km of mineral insulation heating cable
• 400 active circuits
• Over 1400 control i/o
• 1 MW electrical power in 4 power distribution cabinets
• 7 months of execution

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SPECIAL AKOTRACE ® ELECTRICAL
HEAT TRACING SOLUTION FOR GEMASOLAR
Background
AKO Supply and installed the Electrical Heat Tracing
system in the first commercial plant in the world to apply
central tower CSP technology and thermal storage in
molten salts
SENER has carried out the project engineering and it has
been built by a Temporary Joint Venture made up of
SENER and COBRA.
To answer this technical challenge, SENER and COBRA
contracted AKO as a partner to provide its electrical heat-
tracing solution, AKOTRACE®.

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SPECIAL AKOTRACE ® ELECTRICAL
HEAT TRACING SOLUTION FOR GEMASOLAR
Background
This plant is a demonstration that two of the different factors that central tower CSP technologies
have compared to other CSP technologies and other renewable energies: the capacity for
adjusting production to consumption demand.
The longer operating time of the plant in the absence of solar radiation and improved efficiency in
the use of heat from the sun make Gemasolar's production much higher than what other
technologies can reach in a facility with the same power and it can modulate power generation and
adjust it to peak hours outside solar radiation times and produce electrical energy 24 hours a day
for most of the year.
The technological difference supplied by this plant is basically the incorporation of a new thermal
storage system in molten salts which allows producing electricity in the absence of solar radiation.
Heat collected by the salts (capable of reaching temperatures over 500º) is used to generate
steam and, with this, produce electric energy. Excess heat accumulated during the hours of
sunshine is stored in the hot salt tank.
Given the technology used, Tower CSP with molten salts, one of the most critical systems in the
project is the electrical heat-tracing system to maintain and heat the molten salt circulation circuit.
To answer this technical challenge, SENER and COBRA contracted AKO as a partner to provide
its electrical heat-tracing solution, AKOTRACE®.

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SPECIAL AKOTRACE ® ELECTRICAL
HEAT TRACING SOLUTION FOR GEMASOLAR
Project Challenges
Technical requirements, although largely already resolved
by AKO in many projects executed in solar thermal plants
with parabolic trough and salt accumulation technology,
added important differences such as:
- Process working and maximum material temperatures.
- Heating times and remounting of process areas, such as
the receiver and the drainage circuits - Tracing of critical
points such as valve bonnets, pump heads and upright
pipes.
- Availability and robustness of the control system -
Installation of circuits inside the tower and distribution of the
power cabinets, due to space limitations and atmospheric
conditions.

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SPECIAL AKOTRACE ® ELECTRICAL
HEAT TRACING SOLUTION FOR GEMASOLAR
AKO Solution
The scope of the AKO solution has been the execution of
the turnkey electrical heat-tracing
system, AKOTRACE®. AKOs strategic commitment to this
project has been personally promoted by José Luis
Bescós, General Manager of AKO: It has been a big
technical and project and resource management challenge
for AKO. We have learned a lot. We are proud of the end
result and of having taken part in our customers emblematic
project.
Part of the solutions during the basic engineering process were based on R&D activities, led by
the Tracing Applications Manager, Joaquim Pagá: We had to resolve not only theoretically but
also empirically certain aspects we consider key for the success of the project testing in
our AKOTRACE® Laboratory. Therefore, in addition to AKOs internal knowledge, we have turned
to some partners from the science area who have helped us in both the mathematical modelling of
thermodynamic processes and in the properties of certain materials.
This has allowed us to guarantee the performance of certain tracing circuits of critical points in the
laboratory, both in temperature and in maximum times of reaching the set point, minimising at all
times the thermal stress the mineral insulation cable is subjected to by improving our control
algorithm. As, Joaquim Pagá, explaine: in R&D we have been fully involved in the start up of the
system to check or adjust the foreseen performance

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SPECIAL AKOTRACE ® ELECTRICAL
HEAT TRACING SOLUTION FOR GEMASOLAR
AKO Solution
All in an execution time of 7 months. Both the installation
and start-up process have also been a big challenge for the
project industrialisation team, led by Rafael Delgado,
Director of AKOs Project Business Unit: The Temporary
Joint Ventures demands during the installation and start-up
have been very high. Not in vain, not only the heat-tracing
system is critical, but it is also one of the last systems to be
installed and that is totally necessary for the plants product
start up timings. Also, as foreseeable in this type of
innovative projects, improvements have been introduced
during the execution, both by engineering and by AKO, that
we have included in the planning.

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SPECIAL AKOTRACE ® ELECTRICAL
HEAT TRACING SOLUTION FOR GEMASOLAR
Results
The plant was officially opened on 4 October, although it has been operating since May 2011. The
results obtained from the introduction of our AKOTRACE® solution in such an emblematic project are:
- Introduction of improvements in basic engineering and R&D in the form of technical and technological
solutions.
- Assurance of the criticality of the system with an efficient investment.
- Response in time to new technological challenges that have arisen.
- Execution times adjusted to works building planning.
- Training of the plants staff on the correct operation of the heat-tracing system.
- Transparent integration with the plants management system to make plant maintainability easier.
The execution of this projects rounds off the level of experience and knowledge required due to its
criticality in heat-tracing systems of concentration solar thermal plants with salt accumulation.

9. MANY THANKS
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