Last month, an official delegation from Norway consisting of diplomats, businessmen and technology canter managers attended the technical tests that Acciona is carrying out in the El Pardo Hydrodynamics Experimental Channel (CEHIPAR) in Madrid (Spain). The tests are on the design of floating structures that can support offshore wind turbines.
The visit was one of a series of activities organised to coincide with the signing of an R&D agreement between the Foreign Ministries of Spain and Norway, and the Norwegian delegation was headed by the country's ambassador-in-office in Madrid Anders Eide, and made up of representatives from companies and technology centres, among them Innovation Norway, the Norwegian Government's official centre for support to industrial and business innovation.
The tests developed in CEHIPAR are part of the European HiPRWind project, carried out by Acciona together with around twenty other companies and technology centres from eight European countries. The objective is to find technological solutions for high-capacity offshore wind turbines on floating structures that will enable their installation in deep water.
The result of the tests in the test tank will be decisive for the next phase of the project, which involves the installation of a floating platform anchored to the seabed equipped with a 1.5-MW Acciona Windpower turbine. The scale model used in the tests is approximately 1:10 for future offshore wind turbines of more than 10 MW.
The first floating wind turbine to be installed in Spain is expected to be operational in the second half of 2013, and will be sited 100 metres above the seabed on the Cantabrian Sea.
According to the Spanish multinational, "the materialization of a good part of the project in Spain will help the country to gain access to an emerging market. Investments in floating wind power structures up to 2030 could be above €200,000 million worldwide".
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