The Punta Grande power plant recently received one of the BYEM 2018 (Search and Find Improvements) awards granted by Endesa to the most outstanding improvement proposals in the field of electricity generation. The auditorium of Endesa's headquarters in Madrid hosted the fifth edition of these awards, which was attended by the head of the Lanzarote plant, Manuel Rubias, who received the award for the best Endesa plant within its type. All plants that operate with the same technology as Punta Grande, as well as those that produce energy through combined cycles, competed in this category.
In this edition, awards were given for the first time to plants for their overall performance in terms of safety, environment, innovation and operational efficiency, instead of exclusively rewarding specific proposals. For the recognition of Punta Grande as the best plant, the number, interest and degree of implementation of the proposals in these areas were taken into account, as well as the quality of the information provided and the degree of monitoring of the programs.
In addition to Punta Grande, the Candelaria plant in Tenerife was also awarded at the award ceremony for its bird protection program. In total, 233 new ideas were presented to this fifth edition of the BYEM awards, of which 68 are already implemented, 37 are in progress and 100 are under study. These proposals are added to the 306 presented in previous years and which are already applied in some of the company's 25 production units. Some of these solutions can be extrapolated to other plants, which allows the improvements to extend beyond what was initially planned.
As explained by Endesa, The BYEM awards are granted annually to the best proposals from electricity generation plants, especially valuing creativity and teamwork," and represent an incentive for continuous improvement in the interest of efficiency and sustainability of processes". "They are an example of how innovation is integrated into the development of the company's daily activity and demonstrate that the initiative of employees helps to build a safer, more efficient and sustainable energy future," they conclude from the company.
