Tekfen Engineering has undertaken all the engineering work for Barilla, one of the world’s largest pasta manufacturers, in a project designed to reduce the company’s carbon footprint in the production of pasta, as part of its drive towards sustainable production. One of the most important components of the ‘HiFlex Project’, initiated by Barilla in Foggia (Italy) and supported by the EU, is the concentration of solar power (CSP), and it is in this area that Tekfen Engineering has taken on a role.
The project, in which 11 companies from 7 countries are taking part on a co-operative basis, will lead to the construction of a new facility producing renewable energy. Tekfen Engineering is to use particle technology – a world first – and is to be responsible for all engineering work in connection with the building of a solar energy concentration plant around 7500 square metres in area that will be able to follow the sun in both directions, a plant of this kind being known as a ‘heliostat’.
Tekfen Engineering General Manager Fatih Can said the following on the subject: “We have received a subsidy of 2.6 million euro for the development of concentrated solar energy technology, as part of the Horizon 2020 initiative. The subsidy, which is to be used for this project, is the largest ever received by a Turkish firm at one time. Tekfen Engineering is making a contribution to the development of a new technology for the world, and this is a source of great pride for Turkish engineering!”
The other firms involved in the project – each one an expert in its field – are the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), Kinetics Technology, NextChem, Sugimat, HelioHeat, Quantis, Dürmeier GmbH, John Cockerill and IndygoTech Minerals.