Spain looks like a promising market for ALPINE; in just a few months, it has taken home two new contracts, to participate in the preparation of the Museum of Royal Collections and to build a solar power plant in Almería.

ALPINE recently took part in the installation of a space antenna in Villafranca del Castillo, Madrid. The European Space Agency -ESA- engaged ALPINE to introduce what is known as the Tracking, Telemetry and Command Antenna, the biggest deep-space antenna, standing 40 metres tall, weighing in at 620 tons and containing a reflector 35 metres in diameter, manufactured and developed by Vertex Antennentechnik GMBH.

Right now the company is lending a hand in the construction of the new Museum of Royal Collections in Madrid, a job awarded to FCC Construcción. ALPINE is doing the work to anchor the retaining wall that is in progress. The anchors, which are over 50 metres long and tip the scales at a combined total of 180 tons, will be installed all along the 300-metre construction job. All in all, some 18,000 linear metres will be anchored.

The new museum, which will house the royal collection of works of art, household goods, weapons, tapestries and so on, will be raised in the centre of Madrid, right between Almudena Cathedral and the Royal Palace.

In addition, Meinl International Power has reported that it has signed a contract with ALPINE for the implementation of a solar power plant designed for a total capacity of 15.4 MWp in Almería, scheduled to be finished in September 2008.

The total investment in this solar facility comes to €87 million. In one 300,000-m2 area, over 91,000 photovoltaic modules will be installed. The yearly energy output, around 24 million kwh, will be enough to power an average of 6,000 homes.