Technological innovation and renewable energies: moving towards energy independence
3 November, 2020
by OEGA
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In the fourth session of the Friday on the Wind Seminar we will talk about technology. Undoubtedly, profound technological changes have taken place in the field of renewable energy over the last 30 years. Electricity could be produced with the intensity of the sun or the force of the wind in the last decade of the last century; yet the power of the devices was small, investments were large, and operating costs were sometimes inaccessible. Today this has changed: wind turbines have become increasingly large and efficient, and solar panels have become more and more competitive.
Within the context of wind energy, technological transformation has been so great that we are already involved in wind farm dismantling processes, changing wind turbines and all their elements. This is the process through which wind farms are repowered. However, another line of research and technological development is also of great interest: the so-called mini wind farms or smaller-size wind farms.
These will be the topics discussed on Friday, 20 November. To this end, we will count on the participation of Professor Luís Frölén Ribeiro from the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (Portugal), who will place wind development within the circular economy. What happens when we repower a wind farm? What is the fate of its components? Professor Camilo Carrillo from the University of Vigo will address the comparison between photovoltaic energy and wind power and why the former is being developed on a small-scale while the latter has of yet to become a technology accessible to more delocalized investments and self-consumption.
Finally, Adrián Capellán, project manager at Norvento (a Galician energy company), will focus on the technological innovation processes carried out by his company in the field of renewables. In particular, he will present the main challenges and opportunities in producing electricity with medium-sized wind turbines that allow us to “move towards energy independence”. Damián Copena, GWO researcher and professor at the University of Oviedo, will be the moderator of this session.
If you wish to take part in this online Seminar, you must register. To this end, please use the following links, to do so either in Spanish or in Galician.