“Experts and leaders in the sector showed professionals and students the latest developments in offshore wind farm operation and maintenance (O&M)”
Together with Iberdrola, Scottish Power Renewables and the UPV/EHU, TECNALIA organised the 2nd Offshore Renewable Industry Technical Conference
TECNALIA worked with Iberdrola, Scottish Power Renewables and the UPV/EHU to organise the Offshore Renewable Industry Technical Conference. Experts and leaders in the offshore sector showed professionals and students the latest developments in offshore wind farm operation and maintenance (O&M).
Fernando Plazaola, Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology of the UPV/EHU, and José Ignacio Hormaeche, Managing Director of the Basque Energy Cluster, opened the session. In their speeches, they pointed out one of the main challenges facing the industry: talent shortage.
Pedro María Alonso, Quality Lead Manager at Scottish Power, presented the main challenges of fixed and floating offshore wind farms:
- Structure durability
- Extreme conditions
- Operation and maintenance costs that make forecasting and planning materials possible
- Research into new solutions
Ensuring the durability of offshore wind projects
Corrosion protection of wind farm structures was one of the main themes of the conference. This is an essential issue in order to ensure the durability and viability of these projects in the long term. Raúl Caracena, TECNALIA expert on materials in extreme conditions, presented a comparative analysis of practices and standards to ensure corrosion protection for more than 35 years.
Raúl shared case studies to show how research projects that focus on the correct selection of materials and corrosion protection systems can increase durability. This enables the reduction of maintenance costs and the evaluation of the performance of new innovative anti-corrosion and anti-fouling solutions affecting several different stakeholders in the offshore wind value chain.
The conference was also attended by leading companies in the sector such as Lumiker, Euskalforging, AkzoNobel, RAMBOLL, ERREKA, INTECA and NAVACEL, which shared success stories and advances in the development of technological solutions for the offshore wind industry.
Attendees got to know more about the Basque offshore projects at the exhibition entitled “Marine renewable energy in the Basque Country: geology and technology united for a sustainable future”, created by the Basque scientific alliance ORE4CITIZENS.
