The installation of wind farms on land will be limited by “landscape saturation” before a technical horizon of “penetration” on the electricity grid can be reached. The next step is thus to install wind farms out at sea, sufficiently far from the coast to prevent an impact (25 km). At this distance, except in the North Sea, the majority of sites have a depth of over 50 meters. This means that the wind turbines will not be anchored directly on the seafloor; therefore, constructive solutions based on floating platforms are required. This calls for highly complex technological innovation. These solutions will have to be developed, modeled and tested exhaustively before they can be placed on the market.

IREC is leading the development of the project ZÈFIR TEST STATION, an offshore deep-sea wind turbine testing plant for wind turbine manufacturers and the wind industry in general to install, test and certify technological solutions appropriate for this type of location and conditions.

• Calculation Models.
• Electrical Power Transmission.
• Safety.
• Electric Wind Turbine Systems.
• Control Systems.
• Connection to the Power Grids.
• Wind Turbine Substructures.
• Wind Measurements

Group for Aerodynamics and Aeroelastics:

IREC builds up a expertise group in aerodynamics and aeroelastics of wind turbine. The idea is to have an expertise interaction to the research projects of the IREC, like the ZÈFIR TEST STATION. Since ZÈFIR TEST STATION will offer a test wind station for large and floating offshore deepwater wind turbines, the global dynamic behavior is a very important topic. Not only the system dynamics, but also the aerodynamic efficiency and the costs of the blades are within the scope.

Main tasks of the Group:

• Coordination and management of international projects on aerodynamics and aeroelastics of wind turbines
   
• Dynamic and operational simulation, loads assumptions of large wind turbines, global behavior and improvements
   
• Research in floating structures for wind turbine
   
• Research related to rotor blades
   
• Accompany projects related to Zèfir

• OFFWINDTECH: KIC-InnoEnergy project to enable wind energy technology for deepwater offshore.

  a) Grid configuration optimization tools and engineering for large offshore wind farms

  b) Development of high performance - low load offshore rotor blade with special focus on inflow conditions as expected on floating (moving) wind turbines.



• NEPTUNE: KIC-InnoEnergy project to

  a) Develop, construct and test a floating Lidar buoy, which allows to measure wind profile and conditions up to 200m, wave and current in offshore wind form sites. For all water depths.

  b) Test campaign of external condition in Zèfir-Phase 2 (wind, wave and current)

  c) Develop and validate with measurements a wind and sea state forecast software for forecast service business.



• ZÈFIR Test Station

  Development and setting-up of an International deep-sea offshore wind turbine Test Station off the coast of Tarragona, that will serve as laboratory for testing and certifying the new technology to become commercialized.

  The aim of this initiative is to stimulate the collaboration between the Industry, Research Centers and Universities.



• Windleader: Modelling and control of wind turbines and wind farms. Development of control algorithms for a permanent magnet synchronous generator and a dual-fuel engine for wind energy generation applications.


• EMERGE: The study and development of electrical engineering associated with deep water offshore wind power: generation, generator design and transmission, AC-DC line types, connection to the coast, etc.


• VENDAVAL: Analysis, modelling and simulation of possible configurations of offshore wind farm.


• AZIMUT: Conceptual improvements of three main components of a large offshore wind turbine: Rotor Blades, Drive Train and the Substructures.


• AAB Microeólica: Design of a Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machine for a micro-WindTurbine. Includes the choice of the typology and materials, the design, the manufacturing and testing of the generator.


• KIC-OFFWINDTECH: The aim of this project is to identify the main challenges and limitations in offshore wind energy and to seek and analyze viable alternatives in the field of power transmission, drive train technology and offshore blades.