Magma Arts and Congress Centre Las Americas Tenerife

Magma Arts and Congress Centre

The Magma Arts and Congress Centre is a very unusual multifunctional building in Las Americas, the heart of Tenerife south. The internal space has moveable panels so that it can be adapted for user requirements. The hi-tech interior services such as lighting, sound and communication systems can also be adapted to suit almost any permutation of use.

The main hall has an area of 2840 square metres plus a stage area of 300 square metres. Within the entrance of the building is a 1,219 square metres of reception hall. On the first floor there is another large adaptable space with an area of 1,865 square metres. There are also VIP and press areas, a restaurant, cafeteria and exhibition space. The facility also has two large car parks to accommodate visitor vehicles.

Completed in 2005, the Magma Arts and Congress Centre was designed by the Architect, Fernando Menis, Felipe Rufino and Jose Patrana. Of the completed building, Fernando Menis said, “The semi-desert landscape around it and the presence of the sea are the starting points of the concept. Though not situated directly on the water, it does have a strong relation with the ocean, an imposing presence that frames the building with a constant view of La Gomera Island.”

The structure of this building appears at first to volcanic stone but it is formed from a mixture of cast concrete, concrete blocks and tiles. The form of this building is very irregular and although modernistic the overall appearance is primitive, a contrast in terms but that’s how it appears at first sight. The building certainly does not look out of place in its environment.

The building was of significant importance to be inaugurated by King Juan Carlos and Queen Sophia of Spain.

The building is highly suitable as a corporate tourism facility with many hotels nearby.

Take a virtual tour of the Magma Arts and Congress Centre.

Blog posted by Expedia Property SL – Tenerife Estate Agents for Tenerife Property

The Tenerife Auditorium in Santa Cruz

The Tenerife Auditorium

What inspired this landmark building is not clear but it is an amazing creation. The development was originally intended as a simple concert hall but the Architect Santiago Calatrava created a landmark on the 5.7 acre site in Santa Cruz adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean. The distinctive overhanging wing, known to locals as the “wave” makes this building very distinctive. The Tenerife Auditorium, or Auditorio de Tenerife as it is officially known, is much acclaimed by the locals for obvious reasons.

The curvy lines on the outside of this building, which is finished all in white, give it huge sculptural impact. It stands alone and can be seen from all over the City. The outside is finished in Gaudi style white ceramic tiling which gives is a very polished look. The interior is also very impressive with unusual shaped spaces cradled beneath the complex structure above.

In addition to being an architectural masterpiece, the Tenerife Auditorium also offers a wide variety of programmes that can be viewed on their official website. The variety of contemporary programmes, such as Tenerife Dance Music, Atlantic Jazz and World Music complement the more classical style of the Tenerife Philharmonic Orchestra, Opera and the Festival of Canarian Music.

See the Auditorio de Tenerife video. The imagination will run wild when you see this video.

Blog posted by Expedia Property SL – Tenerife Estate Agents for Tenerife Property

Tenerife Schools

There are three options for educating your children in Tenerife Schools. As a Spanish resident you children can enrol any of the many state Tenerife schools and many parents choose this option and if you are not Spanish you children will have the benefit of learning the language quickly.

There are also private Tenerife schools in all the main areas and they are also a popular choice with parents for the same reasons.

Option three is attending one of International Schools which tend to follow a non Spanish curriculum.

The are a number of International Schools which follow the British curriculum;

The English Education Centre in Golf del Sur for Nursery and Primary education. Ages 3 to 11. (Tel:922738638)

Wingate School in Cabo Blanco for Primary and Secondary education. Ages 3 to 18 (Tel 922720102)

British Yeoward School in Puerto de La Cruz for Primary and Secondary education. Ages 3 to 18. (Tel: 922 384 685)

Trinity School in Los Realejos for Primary and Secondary education. Ages 3 to 18. (Tel: 922 345 450)

For more information about private and state Spanish schools it is best to contact the Gobierno de Canarias Education website

Blog posted by Expedia Property SL – Tenerife Estate Agents for Tenerife Property

Tenerife Transport – Air Sea Bus Tram and Taxi

Airports

Reina Sofia Airport is the main International Airport for Tenerife, it is  one of the busiest in Spain. There is another airport in known as Los Rodeos in the north of the Island near the capital city of Santa Cruz and it handles Domestic and International flights.

Sea Ports

Santa Cruz is main port for Tenerife, it is very busy with tourist cruises all year round but it is also very busy with freight. Most Tenerife import and exports go through this port. The port has shipping links with the Spanish Peninsula and the other Canary Islands. Santa Cruz port has fast jetfoil links to Gran Canaria.

On the western side of the Island the port of Los Cristianos serves the Islands of La Gomera, El Hierro and La Palma. Los Cristianos also receives occasional cruise ships.

Buses

The public bus company known as Titsa runs a very good bus Service to almost all areas of the Island. The buses are called “guaguas” by the locals. They are very fast and reliable for most of the time.

Trams

There is a new tram system known as Tranvia inaugurated during 2007 which links the centres of Santa Cruz and La Laguna, a very busy commuting route but also used by many tourists.

Taxis

There are taxi ranks in all the busy areas of the towns and villages. The white taxis with blue roofs are all controlled by local government and the fares are metered.

Blog posted by Expedia Property SL – Tenerife Estate Agents for Tenerife Property

Tenerife TF1 Motorway Extension

There is now strong evidence of the Tenerife TF1 motorway extension in various locations from the roundabout at the end of the current TF1 motorway in Adeje down to Playa San Juan. The first section of the motorway from the roundabout is already asphalted and you can seen it veering off the route of the current TF82 south of Los Menores. From there it appears to run west of Tijoco and Tejina and the construction can be seen passing over the top of the Abama Golf Course, Piedra Hincada and Playa San Juan where it heads south down towards Fonsalia. It will continue North Westerly towards Los Gigantes.

If you research the internet you will not find any published material showing the route of the new motorway, if you want to see it apparently you have to go to the Government offices in Santa Cruz. Why is there no electronic copy?  Theories are circulating that the route has been kept out of the public domain as much as possible to prevent people profiting by buying land and property on the route to gain from compulsory purchase. It you talk to the locals though, some will tell you that compensation payments are not very generous, which is what you might expect. No sensible government would be without an agenda to keep land purchase costs as low as possible. The bulk of land consumed by the new motorway is barren and not very useable for accessibility reasons.

The Tenerife Government have let the contract to a number of different contractors and work progress is evident in many different locations. Apparently the different motorway sections will all be joined up as the works become completed. The project would not be easy to undertake due to the topography of the land along the new route. Large cuttings can already be seen but the works also involve flyovers across some huge gorges and tunnels through many barranca ridges. The civil engineering design will have been very complicated and the contruction a daunting task because some parts of the route were not previously accessible to vehicles, temporary access roads have therefore been formed as enabling works.

The motorway will open up the west coast of the island and reduce travel times considerably, the current roads, expecially the coastal route through these areas where there is no direct route. The roads have many bends and journey times are slow because of single lanes and very few overtaking possibilities. The new motorway will follow the shortest route and will have overtaking lanes on the upward sections.

When complete, the new motorway will no doubt be very busy and apparently it is being designed so that it can be increased in width to accomodate more traffic. The proposed new port at Fonsalia between Playa San Juan and Alcala will be very busy because it will apparently handle all the ferry movements which are currently using Los Cristianos port. Such a busy new port could not have been contemplated without the new motorway currently under construction.

After the new port at Fonsalia is up and running, it is possible that Los Cristianos port could be used for cruise ship stopovers. This is purely conjecture and if any one wants to share their knowledge please leave a comment on the blog post. Comments about the new motorway would be very helpful due to the apparent lack of published information.

Blog posted by Expedia Property SL – Tenerife Estate Agents for Tenerife Property

Photovoltaic Electricity Generation in Tenerife

Photovoltaic Installation in Tenerife

The Institute of Technology for Renewable Energy (ITER) was set up by the Tenerife Government to research new technology with the aim of providing sustainable energy solutions and a cleaner environment.

Photovoltaic (PV) panels are made up from mono or poly crystallline cells and they harness light (solar energy) and convert into electricity. Until recently photovoltaic cells were used for low energy applications because they were expensive and they required large areas of cells to produce any significant amount of electricity.

Typical applications include parking ticket machines, phone booths, battery charging on RV’s, boats and other off grid applications, like temporary signage and garden lighting. Many petrol stations use their canopies as an ideal mounting point for PV panels. It is now possible to buy roof tiles with inbuilt PV cells for domestic applications.

Technology has moved on and Tenerife has pioneered for PV installations which generate significant amounts of electricity for the Island. There are a number of installations on the east coast of Tenerife, some of which you may have noticed.

The first pilot plant was instigated by ITER and generates 100 kW of electricity, enough for 35 families. This enabled validation of the PV panels as a sustainable energy solution. ITER’s main building also has a 28 kW plant which has been powering everything in the building for the last 10 years.

With the experimentation out of the way ITER embarked on an ambitious project (Solten 1) to construct their first major energy producing PV plant on the Granadilla Industrial Estate. The plant has 130 number 100kW panels and produces 13 mega watts of power.

A second installation (Solten II) consists of three separate installations will produce a further 11 mega Watts of electricity. Both of these projects use ground mounted panels inclined at an angle of 10 degrees and the electricity is put through a series of inverters and transformers so that it can be utilized by the National Grid, which is managed by Unelco – Endesa.

These two major installations generate 24 mega Watts of electricity which is enough to provide a sustainable electrical supply for almost 10,000 families at an average of 2.4 kW per household. It also saves a massive 3.62 million tons of fuel consumption per annum and reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 33.6 million tons every year.

The new industrial estate at Granadilla will also be provided with two further installations producing another 4 mega Watts of electricity. Some of the panels will be ground mounted, some will be on the roofs of the new warehouse buildings and others will be mounted on a large pergola which will cover the car park. This installation will reduce the amount of electrical infrastructure which would otherwise have been needed to supply the new industrial park.

We should all be proud that the Tenerife Government is forward thinking and has set an example in producing such large sustainable electricity installations with zero carbon emissions.

ITER are now evaluating a new PV technology known as EUCLIDES which uses parabolic mirrors to concentrate the light on a reduced area of solar cells which will reduce the area and cost of PV solar plants. We do not know the cost of the installations to date but PV cells are expected to have a life of 30 years which is a considerable advantage when calculating payback, not to mention the ecological benefits of clean electricity production.

Read also about Tenerife Wind Farms, another working sustainable energy solution.

Technical information supplied courtesy of the Institiute of Technology for Renewable Energy (ITER).

Blog posted by Expedia Property SL – Tenerife Estate Agents for Tenerife Property

Tenerife Wind Farms

Tenerife Wind Farm

The Institute of Technology for Renewable Energy (ITER) was set up by the Tenerife Government to research new technology with the aim of providing sustainable energy solutions and a cleaner environment.

The industrial park at Granadilla was the site chosen to develop a wind farm. In many ways this location is ideal, facing the strong offshore winds and slightly elevated to take advantage of increased wind velocity as the onshore wind stream becomes compressed as it passes across the rising terrain.

There is not much development in the area so the environmental impact was minimized. The rotors create power but they also generate noise.

Overall the wind farm generates an energy production of 36.764 MWh/annum. This generation avoids the consumption of 3.169.100 kg or 3169.1 tons of fuel, that would be needed to generate the same amount of energy with a conventional power plant. It avoids the emission of 29.411 tons of CO2, 198.5 tons of SO2, 73.5 tons of NOx and 4.4 tons of CO per year as well. The wind farm contributes significantly to the renewable energy production of the island.

The wind farm can be seen heading north on the TF1 motorway, some of the turbine columns tower 40 metres above the terrain which is the height of a 15 story building. The tri-bladed rotors are also up to 40 metres in diameter. There are three different installations all in the same area.

An experimental wind farm was first constructed with the aim of testing the performance of different wind turbines, regarding their origin, manufacture and technology. This wind farm has a potential output of 2.83 mega Watts with 9 machines ranging between 150 and 500 kilo watts.

The wind farm was extended during 1996 with an additional capacity of 4.8 mega watts. Initially there were 16 number 300 kilo Watt turbines but in 1999 there were modified to 8 number 600 kilo Watt machines. The reason given was that the acoustic impact was too great; also the front row of turbines was reducing the output of the rear turbines.

The last installation was constructed during 1998, with an additional capacity of 5.5 mega Watts; it consists of 11 turbines each with an output of 500 kilo Watts.

There are further plans to upgrade the experimental wind farm with the provision of new high output turbines.

Setting aside environmental impact issues, Tenerife has tremendous scope to increase sustainable electricity production using wind farms.

Technical information supplied courtesy of the Institiute of Technology for Renewable Technology (ITER).

Read also about Photovoltaic Electricity Generation in Tenerife, another sustainable energy solution at work.

Blog posted by Expedia Property SL – Tenerife Estate Agents for Tenerife Property

Tenerife Water Supply

Looking at the Island of Tenerife you might wonder how it manages to provide water for nearly 2 million residents and nearly 10 million visitors every year. The answer is simple but the natural and sustainable solution could not have been achieved without considerable effort on the part of the locals.

The island is volcanic and therefore mostly permeable, rainwater and thawing snow from the highlands, and condensation from the forests filters down through the subsoil into non porous geological formations where water is collected. There are some small external reservoirs, mostly for agricultural use but most water for domestic consumption comes from underground galleries and wells.

There are now over one thousand of these galleries dug into the mountains covering over 1700 kilometres. There are also around 500 wells each of which is on average, over 100 metres deep. Over 80% of water consumed in Tenerife comes from these galleries and wells. Water is then distributed through over 4000 kilometres of pipelines and channels to reach it’s point of use. Agriculture accounts for 50% of the overall Tenerife water consumption. The natural water is often high in mineral and salt content and it is therefore treated by de-mineralisation and desalination plants to maintain quality at the point of use.

Tenerife has a long term sustainable solution for providing water for domestic and agricultural consumption due to its geological composition. We intend to research more about Tenerife infrastructure and include our findings on this blog.

Blog posted by Expedia Property SL – Tenerife Estate Agents for Tenerife Property

Planning Stage for the New Tenerife North South train link set for approval

There was news this week that the territorial plan for the new Tenerife North South train link may be approved in February. The scheme will comprise 23 related projects at an overall estimated cost of 1,712 million Euros. The initial planning project will identify the preferred locations of interchanges along the proposed train route in Candelaria, San Isidro, the Tenerife south airport, Los Cristianos and Las Americas. It is estimated the planning project will cost 31.5 million Euros but so far only 5 million Euros has be set aside.

New Port for Tenerife – Announcement expected

The major new port for Tenerife at Granadilla has been delayed for various reasons including environmental impact issues, but an announcement is expected within the next couple of weeks that it will be able to proceed. The estimated cost of the project is 200 million Euros, it will create 500 jobs and relieve the burden on the busy port at Santa Cruz.