Calculating the annual electricity production of a PV plant in a complex orography terrain is a problem with no commercial solution today.

Sener has developed ORUGA® software, which selects the optimal lay out alternative in terms of LCOE (Levelized Cost of Electricity) for PV plants on any given terrain. This tool has optimal performance to address the most common problems that can affect the profitability of your project: the Lay Out module defines the optimal distribution by sweeping different combinations of DC power, trackers, panels, inverters, pitch/GCR and even batteries; the Civil Works module accurately calculates the Earthworks, as well as the length of the pylons required for plant construction; and its advanced 3D Backtracking algorithms maximizes production by positioning the trackers at the optimal angle to minimize shadowing between trackers throughout the day.

There are other reference software in the Market for Banks, Technical Advisors and Engineering firms – the most widespread, for example, is extremely accurate and detailed for flat terrains – but they present an important limitation: precise performance calculation on complex (undulating) terrains, where shadowing between trackers appears. The reference software on the market, for example, can only be used on plants of the order of a few MWp at most; it sets a reasonable limit of about 1 MWp and an upper limit of 5 MWp, due to the calculation time, which would be prohibitive at higher powers.

The decrease in annual electricity production when moving from a flat terrain to a complex one typically varies between 0 and 10%. The specific value depends on the complexity of the terrain in each case.

ORUGA® software calculates accurately the Annual Electricity Production of PV plants in complex orography terrains for any tracker model, applying Flat Backtracking or Sener proprietary 3D Backtracking strategy.

ORUGA® therefore overcomes the limitations of the Software considered as the Reference in the Market for commercial plants (>1 MWp) in complex orography terrains. This new feature can positively reduce the uncertainties associated to complex orography in PV projects at all levels: Development, EPC and Operation.

These results have been endorsed after a 6-month Technical Audit process carried out by a company specialized in the photovoltaic sector and at the request of an independent power producer. Sener has thus obtained the certification that positions ORUGA® as a more accurate alternative to the market standard for complex terrains.

To this end, FLEX4FACTS will design and test the effectiveness of an innovative methodology that seeks to improve the production flexibility of industrial plants, the optimization of the energy flow and the generation and storage potential of local industries.

Thus, FLEX4FACT is an industrial cluster flexibility platform for sustainable factories to reduce CO2 emissions and to meet the energy transition objectives of the European Union.

The methodology developed should be applicable to companies of all sizes and from different sectors thanks to the optimization of energy generation and consumption processes, as well as their capacity for reusing the excess of energy.

FLEX4FACT has the following objectives:

1. Develop solutions to transform rigid production processes into flexible ones as a tool to achieve environmentally friendly production.
2. Digital tools to enable flexibility and demand response in industrial processes.
3. Reuse excess of energy of industrial processes.
4. Deliver a scalable and interoperable system architecture.
5. Demonstrate through 5 different pilots the benefits of the FLEX4FACT Solutions.
6. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all, a goal in line with the UN SDGs.
7. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation, also in line with the UN SDGs.

As part of the consortium, SENER will contribute its expertise in energy and sustainability, and also in digital processes and Machine learning that will incorporated to Flex4Fact’s methodology, which includes the development of digital twins.

FLEX4FACT is receiving funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation program under grant agreement 101058657. The European Commission is co-funding the project with nearly € 18 million.

The European Defence Fund (EDF) Program Committee has approved the list of projects selected for funding by the European Commission as part of the 2021 EDF call for proposals. SENER Aeroespacial has achieved an excellent result for Spanish industry, as it will participate in a total of seven projects in the 2021 call.

Specifically, SENER Aeroespacial will coordinate one of the star projects in the 2021 EDF call for proposals, the EU HYDEF (European Hypersonic Defense Interceptor). The project is aimed at developing a European interceptor to counter threats from 2035. It will result in the concept, risk reduction and demonstration of an efficient endo-atmospheric interceptor capable of operating at different flight levels, which will include an innovative aerodynamic control system for high maneuverability, very agile guiding concepts and advanced sensor and search systems.

This project will involve 13 companies and organizations from 7 nations: Spain, Germany, Belgium, Norway, Czech Republic, Poland and Sweden.

EU HYDEF is related to the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO)’s TWISTER project (Timely Warning and Interception with Space-based TheatER surveillance). This project is led by France with the participation of several countries – including Spain – for the development of a complete system to defend against hypersonic threats with space-based surveillance. In recent months, the importance of having such a system in Europe has increased exponentially, following Russia’s demonstration using hypersonic missiles against targets in Ukraine near the border with Poland.

The EU HYDEF project will be developed over three years with a budget of around 110 million euros, of which almost 100 million will be financed by the European Commission. This will be the largest grant awarded to a project by the EDF until now.

In this project, SENER Aeroespacial has driven participation by other Spanish companies and organizations, including GMV and Escribano M&E, SENER Aeroespacial partners in the Spanish Missile Systems (SMS) initiative; INSTALAZA and INTA, also involved as SMS strategic partners; plus, other Spanish industries, such as Navantia and Skylife. The HYDEF project is thus a significant milestone in the SMS initiative’s consolidation plan.

The other major project also coordinated by SENER Aeroespacial is COMMANDS (Convoy Operations with Manned-unManneD Systems). Its objective is to develop total life cycle (TLC) capabilities for agile, intelligent, and cooperative manned and unmanned ground systems. The results will not only allow for improvements to the current EU inventory ground vehicles for specific missions, but also to integrate them into future vehicles under development.

The European Commission (DG DEFIS) believes that the COMMANDS project is related to the PESCO initiative’s UGS (Integrated Unmanned Ground System) project.

Under the coordination of SENER Aeroespacial, another 20 companies and organizations from 10 EU Member States will participate in COMMANDS. The project will run for 3 years with a budget of 26.8 million euros, of which almost 25 million will be financed through a grant from the European Commission. In addition to SENER Aeroespacial, the Spanish companies Indra, Santa Bárbara Sistemas and INTA will participate in the project.

SENER Aeroespacial is Spain’s leading company in ground vehicle autonomous navigation systems, as well as in collaborative systems between manned and unmanned vehicles (MUT). The company has been awarded several projects related to these systems within the framework of the Ministry of Defense’s COINCIDENTE program: ARCO, ALANO and DIEDRO. SENER Aeroespacial has developed its own autonomous ground navigation system (NAVIGROUND) specifically designed to operate in GNSS degraded or denied environments. Recently, the agreement between SENER Aeroespacial and Santa Bárbara-GDELS was published, for the development of autonomous capacities on ASCOD platforms.

In addition to these two major projects, SENER Aeroespacial will participate in five others: EICAS, EuroHAPS, EPC, ADEQUDE and Q-SiNG.

SENER Aeroespacial opened a branch in Brussels in 2019 with a clear commitment to the European market. With the award of these seven EDF projects, the Spanish company has consolidated itself as a Spanish benchmark in this important expanding market.