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The Engineering Colleges of Zamora and Salamanca recognize Iberdrola España's role in energy outage recovery
- This recognition is due to the important role played by the hydroelectric plants and the workers of Iberdrola España in Zamora and Salamanca in efficiently and rapidly restoring the service.
- The Aldeadávila and Ricobayo hydroelectric plants were key pieces in the electricity supply recovery puzzle, thanks to their autonomous startup capacity.
Presentation of Commemorative Plaque to the Directors of the Ricobayo and Aldeadávila Hydroelectric Plants (Castilla y León)
The Colleges of Industrial Technical Engineers of Zamora and Salamanca hve publicly recognised Iberdrola España for its outstanding work in restoring the power supply after the blackout outage on 28 April.
This recognition is for the important role played by the hydroelectric power plants and Iberdrola España's workers in Zamora and Salamanca in restoring the service efficiently and quickly.
The Aldeadávila and Ricobayo hydroelectric power stations, the former on the Duero and the latter on the Esla, were key pieces in the puzzle to get the power back on, thanks to their capacity for independent start-up – or black start – i.e. they can start up and operate without any external support. Salamanca and Zamora were among the first provinces to get power back, barely three hours after the blackout.
The deans of the Associations of Industrial Technical Engineers of Zamora and Salamanca, José Luis Merchán and José María Collantes, respectively, presented a commemorative plaque to the directors of the Ricobayo hydroelectric power plant, Francisco Sánchez, and Aldeadávila, Clodoaldo Rodríguez, in the presence of the head of the Duero River Basin, Ramón Delpuy, at the facilities that have housed Iberdrola España's Hydraulics Laboratory for decades, a world benchmark in the field of engineering next to the Ricobayo dam.
This has recently been transformed into a pioneering project: an innovation and training centre that will host around 1,000 future professionals from all corners of Spain every year.
Iberdrola España wants to continue to maintain contact with the autonomous community and with all the parties involved, and that is why it has invested in this training centre to retain and attract young talent. It is returning to its origins, hand in hand with the future, talent and innovation.
The landmark of the Duero waterfalls
Iberdrola España's commitment to clean energy began with the construction of the Saltos del Duero or Douro waterfalls. The river hid a treasure in the form of energy in its lower section. It was the engineer José Orbegozo, who, after studying the river and the entire canyon, realised the enormous possibilities of the international section and the magnitude of the project.
It consisted of building powerful waterfalls that would take advantage of the fantastic difference in height and create large reservoirs on the Esla and Tormes rivers. These would make it possible to regulate the flow and guarantee the production of the power stations installed downstream, both in the national and international sections of the Duero, which – on the border between Spain and Portugal and along its 160-kilometre course – had a gradient of 400 metres.
This project is one of the most important milestones in Iberdrola España's more than century-long history.
