The European project DURABLE has held the kick-off meeting in Bidart (France). The project’s challenge is to promote the development of renewable energy in the Atlantic Area (Spain, Portugal, France, Ireland and the United Kingdom). The project has a budget of € 3,9 million and is funded by the Interreg Atlantic Area Programme through the European Regional Development Fund.
The aim of DURABLE is to accelerate the deployment of renewable energies through the validation and demonstration of aerospace technologies applied in robotics for operation and maintenance activities in wind and solar energy systems. The application of this technology will automate inspection and repair tasks, reducing costs and favoring production.
This project is led by ESTIA (Ecole Supérieure des Technologies Industrielles Avancées) from France and has an important Andalusian presence, since it includes three Andalusian partners: The University of Seville, the Technological Corporation of Andalusia (CTA) and the Center for Advanced Aerospace Technologies (CATEC).
Under the acronym DURABLE, the full name of the project is ‘Maintenance drones and robots to enhance renewable energy systems in the Atlantic Area’. For the first time, this project will apply disruptive aerospace, robotic of non-destructive inspection and additive manufacturing technologies to solve the current challenges of the operation and maintenance in wind and solar energy farms.
The project will make a joint mapping of the technologies and the expected needs for the operation and maintenance in solar and wind farms, and then to adapt these technologies for maintenance and repair. Finally, DURABLE will create a mock-up and a test of the solution in pilot sites.
Justification of the Project
The common challenge addressed by the DURABLE is the need to change the current paradigm of the renewable energy sector through the transformation of the technological, institutional, industrial and social framework in the Atlantic Area.
In fact, the Atlantic region is below the average of the European Union (EU) in the consumption of energy from renewable sources. Countries need to update their renewable energy production technologies to overcome these challenges.
12 partners from 5 Atlantic countries
The DURABLE project consortium brings together 12 partners from the 5 Atlantic countries, including 7 technology centres/universities, 2 clusters and 3 industrial partners. In addition, 3 other associated entities participate, integrated in an Advisory Board.
The project includes 6 Spanish partners: The University of Seville, the Center for Advanced Aerospace Technologies (CATEC), the Basque Energy Cluster, Alerion Technologies, Lortek S.Coop and Technological Corporation of Andalusia (CTA).
The Project partners are:
Research centres/Universities
- ESTIA (Ecole Supérieure des Technologies Industrielles Avancées) – France (leader)
- CATEC (Center for Advanced Aerospace Technologies) – Spain
- University of Seville – Spain
- Lortek S. Coop – Spain
- IST (Higher Technical Institute) – Portugal
- Dublin City University – Ireland
- University of the West of England, Bristol – UK
Clusters
- CTA (Technological Corporation of Andalusia) – Spain
- Basque Energy Cluster – Spain
Industrial Partners
- Alerion Technologies – Spain
Advisory Board
- Abengoa Energía – Spain
- SPRI (Sociedad para la Transformación Competitiva) – Spain
- Cluster Drones AETOS – France
- Agencia IDEA – Spain
