The first offshore wind turbine with Elisa technology is expected to be installed soon at Grand Canaria, the second most populous island of the Canary Islands.
The President of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, visited the shipyard in the port of Arinaga, where the prototype named after a Grand Canaria engineer, Mario Luis Romero Tennent (MLRT), will be installed.
The Elisa project requires an investment of EUR 20 million and is co-financed under the 7th European Research Framework Program.
The entire system foundation, tower and wind turbine – is fully pre-assembled and put into service under controlled port conditions, which reduces the risks associated with assembly work at sea, the developers said.
The 5MW Elisa prototype uses a gravity foundation, which essentially serves as a floating platform on which an automatic telescopic deployment tower with a wind turbine is anchored in water depths between 20 and 55 metres.
Each unit consists of a concrete platform, a mast, and a turbine, assembled onshore. It is then towed into the open sea to its site, using conventional tugs.
Once deployed at sea, the platform is weighted and anchored to the seabed. Then, once the platform is secured, the tower is erected in its final position by means of cables and heavy-duty cable-pulling cylinders.
Thanks to Elisa technology, the manufacturer, Esteyco, estimates that installation costs can be reduced by 30% to 40% compared to existing conventional solutions.
Esteyco has developed the technology and is building the prototype with three partner companies, Gamesa (now Siemens Gamesa), ALE Heavy-Lift and DEWI-UL.