Technological development continues to be Abengoa’s main competitive advantage for carrying out high value-added projects. The company develops R&D and innovation projects that improve both the performance of current products and services and the acquisition of new competencies. Abengoa has accumulated 342 granted patents since 2008.

• Solar area: in order to carry out high added value projects, Abengoa continues to develop R&D and innovation projects as it is confident that it is capable of anticipating the future. This will help it to identify new lines of business and acquire new skills that will keep it positioned in the market as a consolidated brand.

  In the solar area, we have set our sights on optimising all technologies, as well as the application of CSP in emerging sectors such as process heat and solar fuels.

• Water: Abengoa’s commitment is focused both on the development of reverse osmosis desalination technology, which allows seawater and brackish water to be stabilised, and on the development of wastewater treatment technology for its regeneration, which allows it to be reused and thus generate new water resources where they are scarce.

• Railway: Abengoa develops innovation projects in different fields in the railway sector, such as catenary, substations, communications and auxiliary installations in different railway technologies such as conventional rail, high speed, metro, tram, APM and other systems.

• Electrical power systems: this division of Abengoa’s Innovation area focuses on innovative control and energy storage technologies to improve the safety, quality and flexibility of the electricity system, favouring greater integration and manageability of renewable energies.

   

• Aerospace: Abengoa’s Aerospace division has multidisciplinary skills to design, manufacture and test electronic monitoring and control systems and power distribution systems for the aerospace, defence and scientific sectors. Based in Madrid (Spain), we have the capabilities to perform in-house all the design, manufacturing and verification tasks required for the development of its product range.

• Hydrogen: the Hydrogen division of Abengoa’s Innovation area is dedicated to the development of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies and solutions.

The main technological focus is on the design and development of solutions for hydrogen production and its use as a fuel for energy production in fuel cells. The main areas of work are:

• Hydrogen production plants by electrolysis and reforming of hydrocarbons and alcohols.
• Power generation plants using fuel cells.
• Hydrogen refuelling stations for refuelling vehicles.
• Hydrogen energy storage plants using a combination of production, storage and power generation technologies.
• Special projects: adaptation of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies for the defence and aerospace sectors.