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Boosting the Zèfir Test Station Offshore Wind Energy Project

Projecte Zèfir
IREC consolidates progress on the project by signing an agreement with Alstom, Enel Green Power España, Gas Natural Fenosa, Acciona, Comsa Emte, EDP, FCC, Gamesa, Iberdrola, Prysmian and Siemens to develop and carry out the project.
 
Thursday, 29 July 2010 – IREC, the Catalonia Institute for Energy Research, has signed a framework collaboration agreement with the companies Alstom, Enel Green Power España, Gas Natural Fenosa, Acciona, Comsa Emte, EDP Renovables, FCC, Gamesa, Iberdrola Renovables, Prysmian and Siemens, for the development and installation of an international R&D station for testing offshore wind energy equipment and technology. The testing platform will be called the ZÈFIR Test Station.

The aim of the agreement is to demonstrate industry’s support of the project, establish a common framework for collaboration on the development and construction of the test station, which IREC plans to carry out off the coast of Catalonia, and to serve as an operative instrument for channeling specific action by each of the companies involved in the project.

 
IREC Director General Antoni Martínez asserted that “the ZÈFIR Test Station for offshore wind technology represents a major step forward in technology and it is a pleasure to be able to contribute our knowledge to the industrial sector to ensure their increased technological competitiveness in the renewable energy sector, as this was one of the main reasons for creating the institute. At the same time, the opportunity to cooperate with top-level international companies is a great stimulus for us.”
 
About the project: The ZÈFIR Test Station will be an international research platform for testing offshore wind turbines in deep waters. The project will be carried out in two stages: the first will consist of installing a maximum of 4 wind turbines anchored to the seafloor at some 3.5 kilometers from the coast, with an overall power of no greater than 20 MW; whereas the second will consist of a maximum of 8 floating wind turbines with a maximum overall power of 50 MW, to be installed some 30 kilometers from the coast.
 

About IREC: IREC is the leading energy research center in Catalonia. Founded in 2008, it specializes in Research and Development of Technology relating to renewable energy and energy conservation and efficiency. More specifically, its lines of work include technology relating to micro-generation networks, electric vehicles, energy storage, energy-efficient buildings, bioenergy and biofuels, and offshore wind energy. The Center also has a Power Electronics Laboratory, a division dedicated to research, design and characterization of materials for energy uses, and another devoted to socio-technical research in the field of energy. The center will be progressively built up such that by 2014, it will have 160 highly-qualified researchers on its staff.

The members of IREC’s Board, which is presided by Councilor Antoni Castells, are the Generalitat de Catalunya (Government of Catalonia) – through its Department of Economy and Finance and Department of Innovation, Universities and Business – and the Central Government of Spain – through its Center for Energy, Environmental and Technology Research (CIEMAT) and Institute for Energy Diversification and Conservation (IDAE) –, the University of Barcelona, the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (Polytechnic University of Catalonia), the Rovira i Virgili University, Endesa, Gas Natural Fenosa and the Societat General d’Aigües de Barcelona (AGBAR). Recently joining the Board as well are the companies or corporate organizations Fundación Repsol, Enagás, Compañía Logística de Hidrocarburos (CLH) and Alstom. IREC has two locations: one in the city of Barcelona and the other in the city of Tarragona.