Did You Know?
- Spain is the world’s largest olive oil producer and the United States is the largest olive oil importer in the world.
- Meanwhile, Spain is the top export destination of U.S. almond exports – importing over $300 million in almonds – mainly from California.
- Spain is the 9th largest investor in the U.S., with an investment stock of $51 billion in 2012.
- Subsidiaries of Spanish-owned firms employed approximately 74,600 people in the United States as of 2010.
- Spain ranked second globally in terms of international tourism receipts in 2012, only outpaced by the U.S.
- Spain ranks among the top ten countries in the world with the best infrastructure quality.
- Seven out of the ten largest infrastructure companies in the world are Spanish.
- Three out of five flights around the world are controlled by Spanish navigation systems.
- Spain is participating in NASA Mars Science Lab “Curiosity” mission with key communications and environmental monitoring components that were designed and built in Spain. This is only the latest part of the Spain-NASA relationship, which began in the 1960s with the development of a Deep Space Communication Complex where many of the Apollo moon mission communications came through, and where 100+ personnel currently work on supporting 40+ deep space missions.
- Abengoa’s PS10 Solar Power Plant, commissioned in 2007, is the world’s first commercial solar energy power tower. Located outside Seville, Spain, PS (“Planta Solar”) 10 produces electricity by concentrating solar radiation from 600+ large movable mirrors onto a 350 foot high tower.