The new ACCELERA by CUMMINS industrial plant, dedicated to the production of PEM electrolyzers, is designed to support Europe's transition to a clean hydrogen economy. Located in the "El Ruiseñor" industrial park in Guadalajara, the plant has a production capacity of up to 500 MW per year, with the possibility of expansion to more than 1 GW.
It is located in the "El Ruiseñor" industrial park, a new urban development in the west of the city of Guadalajara. The 55,000-square-meter site is located next to the city's ring road, so the building's presence in the surrounding area also takes on the responsibility of becoming the company's corporate image. The building has a footprint of 200x100 meters and is located in a slightly off-center position on the plot, allowing for certain outdoor areas around it that are useful for the functionality of the plant.
A white prefabricated concrete volume is proposed, whose only corporate façade, facing northeast, is resolved with a glass skin and vertical sunshades that try to respond to the innovative character of the company. An outdoor parking lot, where the clear presence of trees is its outstanding feature, completes the external image of the complex.
The plot is divided into two areas, the administrative area to the north and the production area to the south, with the building determining this proportion due to its position within the plot. To the south, the plot still has space for a future expansion to 3 bays, which is estimated by the company in the future. Access for heavy vehicles, related to the entry of materials and exit of assembled equipment, is from Felipe de la Peña Street, to the east of the property. The access for light vehicles, for workers and visitors, is from Lorenzo Trillo Street, to the north, in a position facing the main access to the building, to allow easy orientation. The parking lot for light vehicles is conceived as a large forest that precedes the offices.
Some smaller volumes complete the complex and provide additional services to the main building: a building for thermal production equipment and fire protection equipment, the electrical storage battery building, and the security control building.
Inside the main building, the first 20 meters of the width of the volume, which corresponds to the administrative and management area, is distributed over 3 floors. The remaining 80 meters of the total width of the building are intended for the production area, triple height (15m free).
In the administrative area, the following uses are distributed on the first floor: staff access, locker rooms and areas associated with the employees in the production area, the general lobby and access to the offices, an employee canteen for 180 diners, and uses directly related to the assembly area, such as the welding workshop. On the second floor is the administrative use, divided into two areas separated by the main lobby, which includes a monumental staircase and a double-height space. This space includes a meeting room with the possibility of internal partitioning, and a social and dining room for the workers on this floor. The second floor is a floor that contains the facilities that serve the entire building, and the rest is currently an empty space. However, it was designed with the future expansion of office space in mind, so the construction solution for this floor was designed with this condition in mind. This floor is currently being completed with an outdoor covered terrace for company events.
In terms of the material palette, the offices stand out, incorporating carpeted floors and felt louvered ceilings to increase the acoustic comfort of these workspaces. The main lobby has an in-situ terrazzo floor and an aluminum louvered ceiling. The rest of the spaces, especially those of a more industrial nature, are finished with polished concrete floors and exposed installations.
The production area occupies a space of 80x200 meters, with a free height of 15 meters, which, together with issues such as the penetration of zenithal light and the white color of the entire space, acquires an extraordinary spatiality. To the west is the warehouse for incoming materials. The general assembly area is divided into 4 serial production areas, where the product moves from west to east, ending in the outgoing material area.
The main structure is made of precast concrete and follows a grid of 20x20 columns in the production area and 10x10 columns in the office area. Intermediate columns, which reduce the span by 10 m in one direction, are used to support the crane girders in the assembly area. The roof structure is made of prefabricated V-shaped Artwind girders, spaced 6.30 m apart on the axis, so that the span of the roof panels between the ends of the girders is reduced to 4.17 m.
The roof is made up of a 10 cm deck, 20 cm rock wool and TPO waterproofing. Of particular interest is the arrangement of glass skylights, the individual dimensions and number of which have been simulated by means of a computerized procedure in order to provide natural lighting levels of over 500 lux.
In terms of air conditioning, the building stands out for the incorporation of structural thermoactivation (Tabs), through whose pipes water flows connected to two geothermal heat pumps, which in turn circulate it through 120 geothermal wells. The TABS system uses the thermal mass of the building's floor and slab to provide most of the heating and cooling loads while maintaining excellent occupant comfort. The air handling units (AHUs) supply only the outdoor air flow required by code, provide humidification and dehumidification, and assist the TABS system during peak loads.
In turn, the building includes a photovoltaic solar panel system with a power of 1.28 MW/p, connected to batteries with a capacity of 1,072 kWh, in order to accumulate photovoltaic production at times when the building's consumption is lower than the photovoltaic production. A specific study of the electrical loads of the plant has been carried out for the precise sizing of the panels and batteries, with the aim of making the installation as efficient and self-sufficient as possible, minimizing energy consumption from the electrical grid.
Team:
Architects: IDOM
Project architect: Fernando Garrido Naranjo
Other architects: Viral Bhavsar, Alberto Martín González
Project Management: Marcelo Riesgo Garrido-lestache
Costs: Rubén Pérez de Marcos, Esteban Cuartero Casas, María Victoria Blázquez Rodríguez, Miguel Ángel Borrallo
Structures: Marcelo Riesgo Garrido-Lestache
Environmental Engineering: Juan Ramón Aguilar Muñoz, Isaac Lorenzo
Lighting: Carlos del Amo Abad, Marc Mari Roig,
Public Health Services: Ignacio Villanueva Gil, Txomin Mitxelena Aristi, Fede Reguero Nieves
Electrical Engineering: Carlos del Amo Abad/ Marc Mari Roig
Telecommunications: Ana Victoria González Varela, Carlos Aguilar López
Fire Strategy: Vanesa Collado Moreno, Beatriz Aviñó de Pablo
Acoustics: Mario Torices Fernández, Marienne Benutti
Sustainability: Sergio Arús Gutiérrez, Clara Guzmán Colombo, Javier Martín Rodríguez, julio Fernández Amodia
Paisajismo Isabel Alguacil Villanúa, Belén Terreros de la Peña
CAD: Cándida Meseguer García, Rocío Rodríguez Martín, José Manuel González Mato, Alexey Lysogor
Site Supervision: Fernando Garrido Naranjo
Project Execution Management: Andrés Martín Ramos
Construction Management: ARUP
Photographer: Alfonso Quiroga
