The CTC Technology Centre explained the progress made to monitor the propagation of cracks in wind turbine components using its numerical evaluation model. Álvaro Rodríguez, the coordinator of the Industry and Energy area of the only technology centre in Cantabria, presented these advances at the annual EERA JP Wind conference: a European alliance of organisations from 22 countries, aimed at supporting both European wind energy research and industry.

Rodríguez’s participation in the EERA SP7 session, specifically aimed at Structures and Materials, has been the driving force behind this model being discussed before a highly specialised international forum. CTC currently works on a system that can simulate the full life cycle of any part in a wind turbine. As soon as a crack is detected, the numerical model can determine how the crack will advance through the part and thus indicate the remaining life of a complex component.

In addition, Rodríguez took advantage of his presence at the organization’s annual convention to present the CTC patent for the System of Access to Marine Energy Floating Units . It is a patent consisting of an access system that allows simple, fast and safe passage between two floating bodies. For example, between a support vessel and an offshore wind turbine. Its development will facilitate the start-up and maintenance of the necessary structures for the production of marine energies, establishing in this way a way to increase the production of offshore renewable energy.

The EERA JP Wind is an annual event that brings together the legacy generated by the IRP Wind Conference. For the past four years, this meeting was part of the IRPWind project, which ended on 30 April. The EERA has now decided to continue this conference with the primary objective of facilitating the development of wind energy to accelerate the European transition to a more sustainable energy model.

The participation of the CTC Technology Centre in a European alliance of these characteristics implies strengthening the centre’s capacities through access to scientific facilities and specific programmes to train researchers. This type of meeting, held in Amsterdam, allows CTC to consolidate its relations with the leading research centres in Europe in the field of offshore wind energy.