A Software for Calculating the Economic Aspects of Floating Offshore Renewable Energies

[Abstract] The aim of this work is to develop a software to calculate the economic parameters so as to determine the feasibility of a floating offshore renewable farm in a selected location. The software can calculate the economic parameters of several types of offshore renewable energies, as follows: one renewable energy (floating offshore wind—WindFloat, tension leg platform (TLP), and spar; floating wave energy—Pelamis and AquaBuoy), hybrid offshore wind and wave systems (Wave Dragon and W2Power), and combined offshore wind and waves with different systems (independent arrays, peripherally distributed arrays, uniformly distributed arrays, and non-uniformly distributed arrays). The user can select several inputs, such as the location, configuration of the farm, type of floating offshore platform, type of power of the farm, life-cycle of the farm, electric tariff, capital cost, corporate tax, steel cost, percentage of financing, or interest and capacity of the shipyard. The case study is focused on the Galicia region (NW of Spain). The results indicate the economic feasibility of a farm of floating offshore renewable energy in a particular location in terms of its costs, levelized cost of energy (LCOE), internal rate of return (IRR), net present value (NPV), and discounted pay-back period. The tool allows for establishing conclusions about the dependence of the offshore wind resource parameters, the main distances (farm–shore, farm–shipyard, and farm–port), the parameters of the waves, and the bathymetry of the area selecte

The Decarbonisation of Galicia Using Renewable Marine Energy

Paper: 19th International Conference on Renewable Energies and Power Quality (ICREPQ’21) Almeria (Spain), 28th to 30th July 2021[Abstract] The objective of this paper is to examine the importance of independent arrays in the offshore renewable energy farms. In this context, several scenarios have been contemplated for a floating offshore renewable energy farm: a farm only using floating wave energy; a farm only using floating offshore wind energy; and a farm composed by floating wave energy and floating offshore wind energy installed in independent arrays. The article proposes a method to calculate the main economic parameters and decide their economic feasibility. A hypothetic offshore renewable energy farm located in the Galicia region (Spain) has been studied as case of study. Results show which of the scenarios has the best economic results. This method is worthwhile to compare different floating offshore renewable energy technologies in economic terms and help in the decision making of this new emerging sector that can help to rebuild Europe in the post-pandemic period.This research was funded by Project PID2019-105386RA-I00 “Design of a tool for the selection of offshore renewable energy locations and technologies: application to Spanish territorial waters (SEARENEW)”, financed by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación – Agencia Estatal de Investigación/10.13039/50110001103

Managing the oceans: Site selection of a floating offshore wind farm based on GIS spatial analysis

Author accepted manuscript[Abstract] The aim of this study is to develop a methodology for using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) spatial analysis in the development of a floating offshore wind farm. When you plan a floating offshore wind farm it is very important to determine the areas where wind resource is high, which will produce good economic results in terms of the feasibility of the farm. However, the present paper analyses how some restrictions (environmental areas, navigation restricted areas, depth, ports, shipyards, etc.) affect to the floating offshore wind farm. The tool developed allows increasing the quantity of these restrictions as the user needs. The procedure has been considered for the Galician area (North-West of Spain), a region that has experience in onshore wind. Therefore, the GIS tool analyses the site selection for a floating offshore wind farm

Evaluación del nivel de legibilidad de contratos EPC redactados en español e inglés para obras industriales

En el mundo de la obra industrial, los megaproyectos se gestionan y contratan de forma habitual utilizando contratos del tipo EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction), comúnmente denominados «llave en mano». A la complejidad técnica inherente a la ejecución y control de estos megaproyectos se une normalmente la dificultad de entender los términos y las condiciones que han fijado despachos de abogados, generalmente de prestigio en el momento de su negociación y firma. Con base en la experiencia de los autores en la gestión de varios megaproyectos, este estudio trata de poner en relevancia el nivel de legibilidad de estos contratos. Para ello se utiliza la formulación Flesch Reading Ease Score (FRES), analizando varias cláusulas de alguno de estos contratos tipo EPC, comparándolas con los tres modelos de contratación de referencia internacionales y evaluando el impacto del idioma en el que están redactados. El resultado obtenido en la determinación del nivel de legibilidad (readability en inglés) muestra que, en general, se requiere un nivel de formación específica y de capacitación profesional muy elevado para poder entender lo redactado. Además, el estudio concluye que las cláusulas escritas en español son más complejas que las cláusulas escritas en inglés, un déficit que parte de la propia naturaleza del idioma, que emplea en general más palabras en cada frase, y al que se suma al hecho de que la formación en expresión oral y escrita en las carreras técnicas impartidas en España es prácticamente inexistente

Importance of the fluctuations of the steel price in the economic feasibility of a hybrid offshore platform in the West of the Iberian Peninsula

[Abstract]: Marine renewable energies are being implemented as basic energy sources of the Spanish energy system for various reasons, the first because the planet Earth is made up of 70% water, which makes marine resources very important when programming the production, the second because they are clean energies that do not emit greenhouse gases, necessary to comply with the European Green Deal and the third because this type of energy provides us with energy independence from third countries. But, despite the social benefits mentioned above, we also have to take into account economic factors that can make the economic profitability of this type of equipment less viable. For this, the wind resource, platform costs, etc. are analyzed. Within these factors, this research focuses on seeing how the variation in the price of steel (the main material used in this equipment) caused by the increase in the cost of electricity causes the main economic parameters to vary for a park made up of W2Power hybrid platforms. of 300 MW located on the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula.This research was partially funded by Project PID2019- 105386RA-I00 “Design of a tool for the selection of offshore renewable energy locations and technologies: application to Spanish territorial waters (SEARENEW)”, financed by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación—Agencia Estatal de Investigación/10.13039/501100011033

The Wear Responses of the Welded Joints of ASTM A335 Gr. P11 Steels Affected by Accelerated Flow Corrosion

[Abstract] This study shows the efects of wear on welded joints of ASTM A355 Gr. P11 “Seamless Ferritic Alloy-Steel Pipe for High Temperature Service” steels subjected to the welding procedures established by codes B31.1 and ASME III. The standard welding procedure establishes the following steps: a preheating process, welding and post-weld heat treatment. This generates a wear behavior that depends on the thermal cycles to which the diferent areas of the joint are subjected. The objective of this article was the study of the behavior against the flow-accelerated corrosion of the welded joints of a low alloy steel. There is the possibility of establishing welding procedures other than those established, while maintaining the safety ranges, depending on the field of application for the steel

Economic Aspects of a Concrete Floating Offshore Wind Platform in the Atlantic Arc of Europe

[Abstract] The objective of this paper is to examine the economic aspects of a concrete offshore wind floating platform in the Atlantic Arc of Europe (Portugal and Spain). The life-cycle cost of a concrete floating offshore wind platform is considered to calculate the main economic parameters that will define the economic feasibility of the offshore wind farm. The case of study is the concrete floating offshore wind platform Telwind®, a spar platform with a revolutionary way of installing using a self-erecting telescopic tower of the wind turbine. In addition, the study analyses thirteen locations in Spain and twenty in Portugal, including the Atlantic islands of both countries. Results indicate that the economically feasible location to install a concrete o shore wind farm composed of concrete platforms is the Canary Islands (Spain) and Flores (Portugal).European Commission; 344/2016 ARCWIN

Analysis of the Real Energy Consumption of Energy Saving Lamps

[Abstract] Light emitting diode (LED) and compact fluorescent light (CFL) lamps are widely used because they are associated with low energy consumption and a reduced environmental impact. In the present paper, a study of the real consumption of these devices has been carried out. To do this, the active, reactive, distortion and apparent power and electrical efficiency for various lamps have been measured and calculated. The distortions produced in the network provoke the consumed energy to be in the order of 50–75% higher than that which appears in the commercial characteristics. This situation means that for its operation, it is necessary to generate and distribute an amount of energy much higher than that which is declared as the consumption of these lamps, and so far, this amount of energy is neither quantified nor invoiced. Additionally, groups of lamps have also been studied to check whether, when working together on the same network, there is a compensation phenomenon that reduces the negative effects of individual lamps. We have found that this compensation effect does not occur for the type of devices evaluated

Economic viability of floating wave power farms considering the energy generated in the near future

Financiado para publicación en acceso aberto: Universidade da Coruña/CISUG[Abstract]: This article aims to analyse the economic viability of floating wave energy farms for the present and the next twenty years. The energy potential of the waves mainly depends on the climate, so the current and near future analysis is crucial to determine the economic viability of wave energy farms in a particular location. Current and near future wave resources were considered to assess the main parameters (Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE)) that allow to know the economic feasibility of wave energy farms. This study takes one step forward in determining the economic evaluation of wave energy farms located in deep waters using their future energy projections. The case of study in this paper is the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula. Results indicate that the future wave energy reduction principally affects the NPV and LCOE of the wave farm.Xunta de Galicia; ED431C 2021/44Portugal. Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia; UIDB/50017/2020þUIDP/50017/2020This research was partially funded by Project PID2019- 105386RAI00 “Design of a tool for the selection of offshore renewable energy locations and technologies: application to Spanish territorial waters (SEARENEW)”, financed by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovaci´on – Agencia Estatal de Investigaci´on/10.13039/501100011033. This research is part of the Project TED2021-132534B–I00 “Characterization of a software to determine the roadmap of the offshore solar energy in the Spanish shore (SEASUN)”, financed by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Union “NextGenerationEU”/ PRTR. Funding for open access charge: Universidade da Coru˜na/CISUG. The authors would like to acknowledge funding from the Xunta de Galicia under project ED431C 2021/44 (Grupos de Referencia Competitiva) and the Ministry of Science and Innovation of the Government of Spain under the project SURVIWEC PID2020-113245RB-I00. This work was partially supported by Project TED2021-129479A-100 (SAFE project) funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and the “European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR”. Moreover, this study forms part of the Marine Science programme (ThinkInAzul) supported by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovaci´on and Xunta de Galicia with funding from European Union NextGenerationEU (PRTR-C17. I1) and European Maritime and Fisheries Fund. Thanks are also due to the Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT) FCT/MCTES for the financial support to CESAM (UIDB/50017/ 2020þUIDP/50017/2020), through national funds. Additionally, this study was partially supported under the SMART project funded by the AI Moonshot Challenge 2020, promoted by the Portuguese Space Agency - Portugal Space. The present study is also part of the project “WECAnet: A pan-European network for Marine Renewable Energy” (CA17105), which received funding from the HORIZON2020 Framework Programme by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology), a funding agency for research and innovation networks. X. Costoya is supported by Grant IJC2020-043745-I/MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by “European Union NextGenerationEU/ PRTR”. B. Arguil´e-P´erez is supported by Grant PRE2021- 097580 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by “ESF Investing in your future". Funding for open access charge: Universidade de Vigo/CISUG