Offshore wind development project progresses
Participants in a project which aims to continue to promote the collaborative research and development of technologies and solutions for the foundations, towers and auxiliary systems of high-power offshore wind turbines have held their second meeting.
The SEAPOWER project kicked off in 2019 with a consortium made up of 10 major Basque companies from the offshore wind power sector, headed by engineering firm SENER.
The project has a budget of €5.3m for the 2019-2021 period and is funded by the Basque Government’s Hazitek Programme, with the support of the European Regional Development Fund.
SEAPOWER is the first large scale collaboration in offshore wind power between the major Basque engineering firms and the leading manufacturers of structures and components.
This relationship will enable the former to incorporate improvements in their proposals, whilst the latter will have direct access to the design fundamentals that will facilitate the conception, development and validation of new (and improved) solutions for the sector.
Project outputs are expected to include new numeric models that facilitate the definition of loads and the validation of designs integrated and innovative solutions for towers, transition parts, fixed and floating wind power substructures; a new generation of transformers and connectors for electrical evacuation at 66 kV; systems for access and elevation which can be integrated in the initial phases of the manufacture of large parts; and coatings for protection against impacts and biofouling appropriate for each structural element.
By Rebecca Jeffrey
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