This concession gives an exclusive right to operate in Spain this advanced ventilation control system, originally developed for underground facilities.

This artificial intelligence system, which has been operating since 2020 in the Barcelona Metro, has achieved extraordinary results that have directly improved the environmental conditions (temperature and air quality) for transport users, and saved 1.7 million euros a year in energy consumption.

The company Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona relied on the Respira system to intelligently regulate the ventilation in the metro system in order to improve environmental quality, hygiene and passenger comfort in the stations, while at the same time reducing energy consumption, in keeping with its sustainability targets.

Conventional underground transportation stations and networks do not have machines to produce cold or heat, so the only way to control the temperature and other environmental conditions is by introducing air from the outside at certain points and expelling it at other points. In addition, the entire tunnel network is connected, which makes it very difficult to control the temperature of each station independently. The system developed by Sener manages to solve these problems by analyzing more than 500 million data points a year and selecting the best ventilation strategy at any given time considering all the variables of the Metro network.

Over the next 10 years, Sener will have the rights to operate this invention for underground transport. Guillem Peris, the inventor of the Utility Model, comments: “We are very happy with this concession, since it demonstrates that, when faced with a complex problem, we find solutions by combining our technical know-how with the application of new technologies. We solve our customers’ problems. And we’re sure that this will open doors to many underground facilities in Spain and around the world. In Australia, for example, Sener has also been granted a Utility Model”.

Respira®

Originally designed for the complex infrastructure that is the Barcelona Metro, Sener’s team of engineers evolved the system to manage any type of HVAC installation, offering these advantages to other spaces such as airports, hotels, shopping centers, university centers, and more. Of note is the partnership agreement signed in October 2021 between SENER and AENA to carry out a pilot test of the artificial intelligence system at Manises Airport in Valencia, which yielded excellent results. The system is also in operation in Azkuna Zentroa, a multi-purpose building of the Bilbao City Council, as well as in the Sener headquarters in Tres Cantos.

Respira® is a solution developed by SENER that is implemented in addition to centralized management systems to operate HVAC systems autonomously by using artificial intelligence to achieve maximum performance of the system thanks to its predictive capacity, which translates into improved environmental conditions and lower operating costs.

Respira® can be viewed as a virtual and autonomous operator that is able to intelligently manage all the variables that affect the environmental conditions of a space, and thus minimize the running costs of HVAC systems through continuous, real-time operations.

Respira® is able to improve thermal comfort, air quality and energy efficiency in indoor spaces. Based on dynamic algorithms, it seeks to balance complex variables such as temperature, humidity, air quality, occupation and electricity consumption to predict environmental conditions inside rooms and offer greater comfort to users of the facility, while optimizing the energy consumption of the installation. By defining several operating criteria and reading variables in real time, the Respira® algorithm applies a centralized mode of operation, establishing an optimal operating strategy for every moment in time.

This is a quantum communications laboratory attached to the University of Vigo (Spain), of which Sener, represented by Demetrio Zorita, is also a member of the Business Advisory Board.

The laboratory aims to be one of the spearheads of the Spanish quantum technology ecosystem. Its main objectives are the conception, production, promotion, dissemination, application and exploitation of scientific and technological knowledge in the area of photonics, through the achievement of excellence in research and technological development. It will soon evolve into AEPHOS, Centro de Tecnologías Fotónicas.

The main motivation for being in this project is that Sener is currently developing technologies for quantum key distribution (QKD) in free space, which is considered the only way to establish secure communications in the future, once quantum supercomputers are able to break, by brute force attack, any cryptographic key.

Along with Sener Aerospace and Defense, Gradiant, Keysight, VLC Photonics, Sparc Foundry and Alter Technology are also founding partners. In December, the Association’s Articles of Incorporation were signed in a formal ceremony, but held remotely, with electronic registration.

Sener’s technological development and manufacturing project for new generation electrolysers has been one of the four projects chosen by the Government, as announced on Tuesday 10 by the Council of Ministers. In total, the Government has allocated 74 million euros to four renewable hydrogen projects, as explained by the third vice president of the Government and Minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera.

This nominative state subsidy is the mechanism for financing the Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) for renewable hydrogen research and industry, which selected the four projects, including Sener’s project for the technological development and manufacture of new generation electrolyzers, in July 2022. The IPCEI Hy2Tech program will finance R+D and industrial deployment activities. In total, an investment of more than 245 million euros will be mobilized.

It is expected that this project of technological development and manufacture of new generation electrolyzers of Sener, will generate at least 300 direct jobs, to which will be added another 500 indirect, by developing the supply chain with national companies.

This is one of Sener’s projects in hydrogen generation from 100% renewable energy with zero CO2 emissions. Sener carries out the technological development of hydrogen generation solutions, such as electrolysis, the most interesting solution for the mass generation of green hydrogen. It also works on the integration of electrolysis equipment with a complete H2 generation system, including from the generation of hydrogen, the adaptation and supply of water and electricity to the subsequent phases of compression, storage and use, as well as its possible transformation into other products. Likewise, Sener develops technology for generating green H2 from bioalcohols or ammonia, as possible hydrogen carriers. These solutions will complement the use of H2 where sufficient renewable electricity generation is available or in mobility applications where it is not possible to ship large volumes of compressed hydrogen, such as the marine sector.

As indicated in the note released by the Spanish Government, renewable hydrogen is considered essential for the decarbonization of the economy and achieve the objectives set for climate neutrality, so it is acquiring a very important weight in the new energy model worldwide. “It is also a great opportunity for innovation, employment and the modernization of the productive fabric,” stressed Ribera. The Vice President said that Spain is “at the forefront” in this race for the hydrogen economy, both for professional and industrial capabilities and for the orientation of public policies: “We should feel enormously proud.”

In this sense, in October 2020 the “Hydrogen Roadmap: a commitment to renewable hydrogen” was approved, which set for 2030 the objectives of 4 gigawatts of installed power of electrolysers (10% of the objective set by the European Commission for the whole of the EU); a minimum of 25% of hydrogen consumption by the industry of renewable origin, and the implementation of hydrogenerators, trains and heavy transport vehicles powered by this renewable vector. A year later, in December 2021, the PERTE of renewable energy, hydrogen and storage was presented, which has already called for aid for 400 million euros for pioneering and unique renewable hydrogen projects and for the value chain.

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