Zèfir Project Wins First Prize in Sustainability Category (Spain)

The piece of work “Zèfir: in search of deep water offshore wind energy”, carried out by students from the Cor de Maria school in Valls, has been awarded the first prize in the Sustainability category.

Over 12,000 people of all ages took part in the 12th edition of the science competition “Ciencia en Acción”, which this year was held in Lleida on the grounds of the Agri-Food Science and Technology Park. This twelfth edition was organised by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), the Institute for the Mathematical Sciences (ICMAT), the Spanish Royal Society of Physics (RSEF) and the National Distance Education University (UNED).

The Sustainability category (Antares Prize) was awarded to the project “Zèfir: in search of deep water offshore wind energy”, carried out by students from the Cor de Maria school in Valls, Tarragona.

The Zèfir Test Station is to become an international research platform for testing deep water wind turbines that will be located on the coast of Tarragona. The project has been divided into two phases. In the first, it has been planned to install four piled turbines on the sea floor about 3.5 kilometres from the coast, with a combined power output of 20 MW; in the second phase, eight floating turbines will be built in deep waters around 30 kilometres from the coast and together they will produce a maximum of 50 MW.

The “Ciencia en Acción” competition is an initiative open to teachers from all levels of education who wish to make the general public aware of science and promote scientific culture. Students, lecturers and researchers in science communication are also invited to take part. This event is a teaching and learning experience.

[mappress]

Source: irec, November 02, 2011