Spain Gets Its First Offshore Wind Turbine

The 5MW Elisa self-installing telescopic offshore wind turbine, developed under the EU-funded Elican project, arrived at its designated location at the Plocan site off Gran Canaria today, 21 June. 

The Elisa technology allows the turbine tower and the wind turbine to be fully assembled in port, eliminating the need for large vessels or cranes during the installation.

The prototype’s nacelle and blades were mounted on the telescopic tower in April 2018. The following month, an auxiliary flotation system was attached to the unit to increase the stability during the transportation and installation of the turbine.

The auxiliary system was designed and built after the Elican consortium received a EUR 2.4 million grant from Spanish Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI) in March. The grant has supported the design and construction of the platform for Transportation (T), Installation (I) and Maintenance (M) of gravity offshore structures, and coupling the TIM demonstrator project with Elican.

The Elisa/Elican project is led by Esteyco within a consortium also including Siemens Gamesa, ALE Heavylift, DEWI GmbH, and Plocan.

The project’s goal, which is now achieved, was to assemble the entire system – including the foundation, tower and wind turbine – and its pre-commissioning under controlled conditions at the Arinaga port, and then tow it to the site using conventional tugs.

According to the developer, this reduces the risks associated with assembly work at sea and can cut installation costs by 30% to 40% compared to existing conventional solutions.

Offshore WIND Staff