Offshore wind energy will make a key contribution to achieving the EU’s Green Pact targets. The European Commission’s Offshore Renewable Energy Sources strategy anticipates the integration of 300 GW of offshore wind generation capacity into the power system by 2050. The magnitude of this transition will pose new challenges for the European electricity system: achieving the necessary connections and grid development at the lowest cost; maintaining system security; accommodating a complete redefinition of energy flow patterns; considering key constraints related to spatial planning, environmental protection and public acceptance; achieving an integrated perspective across time, space and sectors; and ensuring flexible resources to keep the energy system balanced.

To date, there are 227MW of fully operational floating wind across 14 projects in 7 countries. Globally, there are 46MW under construction, 576MW approved for construction, 68GW are integrated into planning or have a siting agreement (80 projects) and 175GW are in early stage development or in the process of obtaining offshore permits (177 projects).

ACCIONA Energía is in a strategic position, given its extensive experience in the development and operation of renewable assets, boasting a portfolio of 11.8 GW and a geographical presence in more than 15 countries across all five continents. ACCIONA Energía is committed to participating in this new technological challenge and is taking concrete steps to position itself as a competitor in the growing Offshore Wind market.

In this context, the company is evaluating offshore wind technology in diverse locations such as the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. In these areas, the absence of a continental shelf and consequently, the high depths, prevents the installation of fixed structures on the seabed. Therefore, it is necessary to develop floating wind technology in these locations.

In the case of offshore wind farms, both floating and fixed structure, compliance with grid codes is a complex task to address. This is because changes in the available power due to variations in the wind resource can lead to issues with the quality of energy, exacerbated by evacuation infrastructures that increasingly have a greater impact given their scale and the long distances traveled from the energy source (turbines) to the point of connection to the transmission grid.

One of the major technical challenges of Floating Offshore Wind (FOW) technology is the design and evaluation of the electrical interconnection scheme, owing to various factors:

• Long distances from turbine installations to the coast, with the additional distance from the coast to the Interconnection Substation.
• Technological barrier to having Floating Transformer or Conversion Substations, which allow for the elevation of the electrical supply voltage from the plant or the use of High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) technology in deep-sea locations. This limits evacuation options to High Voltage Alternating Current (HVAC) technology.
• Highly capacitive nature of submarine and terrestrial cables (environmental limitations for using overhead lines in the terrestrial evacuation section compel the majority of projects to use buried cables). This implies the need to absorb large amounts of reactive power both at the turbine and through reactive compensation elements, which, due to physical limitations, are located in the onshore substations.
• Limitation of the maximum allowable voltage in submarine HVAC cables, with dynamic capacity (in the sense that they have flexibility and the ability to undergo mechanical stress, due to the floating nature of the turbines). Currently, the standard voltage in Dynamic Inter-Array Cables is 66kV, although 132kV technology is expected to become commercially available in the medium term.

With these premises, we are faced with the design of the electrical evacuation system and the sizing/location of the reactive power compensation elements. Even in the conceptual design phase, decisions on the above-mentioned points will have a significant impact on the cost, performance and viability of the projects under development.

ACCIONA Energía is launching this challenge to identify and expedite the development of tools and/or technologies that enable the evaluation of designs and optimization of power evacuation systems for offshore wind farms. The proposed design and optimization methodologies will consider integration with the grid and compliance with the grid code of the evaluated projects, aiming for the automation of iterative design processes. The proposed electrical schemes should strike a balance between technical feasibility and the lowest possible cost.

The proposed solutions should:

• Allow for the modeling and simulation of the plant under study in electrical network analysis software that solves load flows (e.g., PSSE/DIGSILENT PowerFactory).
• Analyze sensitivities in the design and its feasibility, understood as compliance with grid code requirements at the project’s connection point and/or machine terminals, as well as voltage profiles along the evacuation scheme:
  • Compensation strategies: location, sizing, technology, and/or;
  • Evacuation schemes: number of circuits, voltage level, distances.
• Enable the evaluation of electrical losses, as well as the reliability of the system (redundancy/oversizing criteria).
• Be adaptable and scalable for deployment in various target markets and/or key design premises, such as HVAC/HVDC technology, HVAC with a marine substation, or direct connection to the ground.

Tools with different degrees of technological maturity will be considered, and it is not necessary for the proposed solution to be fully developed at the time of submission.

According to the Global Market Outlook for Solar Power 2023 – 2027 report published by SolarPower Europe, 239 GW of new solar capacity was added worldwide, reaching a total capacity of 1.2 TW and experiencing a 25% increase compared to 2021.

ACCIONA Energía is present throughout the entire value chain of the energy sector, including project development and structuring, engineering, construction, supply, operation, maintenance, asset management, and the management and sale of clean energy. In the photovoltaic sector, ACCIONA Energía has accumulated 21 years of experience. The company builds, operates, and maintains photovoltaic parks in 9 countries worldwide with an installed capacity of 2081 MWp, including more than 20 large plants within its portfolio.

One of the greatest challenges in photovoltaic generation is its intermittency and dependence on atmospheric conditions regarding cloud presence and thickness for electricity generation. Increasingly, accurate short-term forecasts of intraday irradiance play a crucial role in optimizing market operations (primarily for participation in adjustment markets) and enhancing the efficiency of utility-scale plants. Improved predictions of energy production will facilitate the greater integration of photovoltaic generation into the grid, considering its variability and progressive hybridization with other technologies such as storage.

Short-term predictions (NowCasting) are techniques for forecasting generation in the near future, typically within the range of minutes or a few hours from the present moment. To feed mathematical models and algorithms, real-time data from various sources such as satellite images, meteorological stations, sky imaging systems, ground irradiance sensors, and cloud cover information are used to make highly accurate and localized predictions of solar irradiance.

From ACCIONA Energía, we are seeking solutions that provide very short-term production data (15 minutes) for utility-scale photovoltaic plants. These solutions should be based on prediction models using satellite image processing and other technologies capable of anticipating sudden decreases or increases in resource availability caused by clouds not detected by conventional prediction models.

Key specifications for the solution include:

• Temporal resolution of the prediction: Minute-level
• Prediction update frequency: Every 15 minutes
• Prediction horizon time: 180 minutes

The pilot project will be developed in the Extremadura I PV plant (Spain).

The global wind energy market has almost quadrupled in size in the last decade and has established itself as one of the most cost-competitive energy sources worldwide, reaching 743 GW of installed capacity.

ACCIONA Energía builds, operates and maintains wind farms in 25 countries around the world. With an installed capacity of 8 759 MW (2021) and 230 plants in operation, wind power generation accounts for 80% of the electricity generation produced by the company annually.

The operation and maintenance of wind turbines remains a significant cost factor (up to 20% of the total energy cost), affecting the price of energy and the competitiveness of renewable energy. Wind turbine blades are exposed to complex environmental and mechanical stresses during their lifetime, including cyclic deformation, rain, sand and contaminants causing erosion, icing, high humidity and temperature fluctuations, but also exceptional events such as transport damage, lightning strikes and bird strikes.
Damage to wind turbine blades can be classified as surface damage (microcracks on the surface and coatings), resin and/or interface damage (delamination, resin defects) and structural element damage (with broken or kinked fibres). Surface damage can be caused by erosion (rain, sand, hail) or impact from small objects. The damaged surface can reduce the aerodynamic performance of the blades and energy generation. It does not prevent the wind turbine from functioning, but the surface defects grow and develop and can lead to structural damage of the blade.

Wind blade inspection is a critical process to ensure the safety and performance of wind turbines. This process is important for reliable prediction of failure events, planning of maintenance activities and mitigation of degradation processes. It typically involves visual, tactile and sometimes automated methods to detect defects such as cracks, erosion and delamination in the blades. Regular inspections help to identify problems early and prevent costly damage or downtime.

Today, ACCIONA Energía works with cutting-edge technologies related to O&M, and we are committed to operational excellence and reducing the costs of our operations. Wind blade inspection plays a key role in ensuring the reliability, efficiency and sustainability of wind energy production.

ACCIONA Energía is looking for new technologies or solutions that have been developed for wind turbine blade inspection, which includes data collection and processing of information to evaluate the wind turbine. We are interested in technologies that explore the development of this blade inspection without stopping power production, i.e. without stopping the wind turbine. The solutions could be ground based or drone based. These will help us to make inspections safer, more flexible and faster.

Climate change poses a global challenge, with surface temperatures reaching unprecedented levels year after year. In the Paris Agreement (2015), countries committed to trying to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 ℃ above pre-industrial levels. However, even if they fulfill their promises to reduce emissions, the UN still estimates an increase of around 2.7 ℃ by the end of the 21st century. The accumulation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is directly linked to the use of fossil fuels in all sectors of the economy, particularly in electricity generation, transportation, and industry. Simultaneously, these sectors will be severely impacted by the effects of climate change, as consumption patterns across various sectors may be altered, affecting the supply and demand for electricity.

Renewable energies are often cited as one of the most promising solutions that the sector can offer to reduce GHGs. These rely on resources directly influenced by climatic variables and, therefore, will also be affected by the impacts of climate change throughout their lifecycle.

ACCIONA Energía is the world’s largest global energy company exclusively operating in renewable technologies. The company has facilities using wind, photovoltaic, hydroelectric, biomass, and Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) technologies. The impact of climate change on the availability of renewable resources in the medium and long term is being studied, which will directly affect the profitability of investments. It is equally important to understand the repercussions that climate change can have at the asset level, affecting their efficiency and lifespan.

In the case of wind power generation, climate change could lead to a reduction in the performance of wind turbines due to thermal losses, changes in resource availability, changes in operational behavior, and a shift in air density. All these factors would decrease the number of hours the wind farm operates at peak performance, reducing the amount of electricity generated in both existing and new installations. As for photovoltaic energy, over time, there could be a decrease in the performance of photovoltaic panels due to rising average temperatures. This would result in a reduction in electricity generation throughout the asset’s lifecycle, affecting the profitability of investments.

ACCIONA Energía is looking for solutions that enable the measurement and quantification of the impact of climate change on the profitability of its operational assets. Additionally, the company aims to use this climate intelligence for business development in new geographical markets. Therefore, the solution should enable ACCIONA Energía to assess at the plant and component levels, the effects of climate change to anticipate operational risks in its various plants worldwide. This includes planning and mitigating risks for future installations.

The solution proposed should:

• Provide information on the probability and incidence of extreme weather events at selected locations.
• Offer information on the climatic impact on resource availability in the chosen geographies (seasonal, annual, and multi-year forecasts).
• Provide information on the climatic impact at the park and different elements within it at selected plants for the pilot project (seasonal, annual, and multi-year forecasts). ACCIONA Energía’s project team will identify variables potentially affecting each element, and the solution should measure the probability of occurrence, frequency, and calculate the impact of risk in financial terms for the company.
• Facilitate the generation of different scenarios with various probability levels to estimate different levels of economic impact for the analyzed asset portfolio.
• Enable the calculation of the financial impact associated with identified climate risks at different levels of analysis.
• The solution’s ability to facilitate report generation for compliance with European regulations or international reporting obligations will also be valued.
• Allow for easy scaling to different plants and geographical locations where ACCIONA Energía

At the beginning of the pilot, the selection of plants and locations, as well as the technologies to be monitored throughout the pilot, will be provided (this point will be reviewed with the selected partner to properly define its scope).

A large amount of carbon emissions come from the electric and energy generation industries through non-renewable sources. In spite of societies’ greater awareness in the face of climate change and its consequences, there is no way of proving to a client that the energy consumed through the grid originates from a renewable source. In addition, although in different countries the small energy generators have the chance of pouring their energy surplus into the grid, this system is very inefficient and there is no way to prove how much energy produced by them has been distributed through the energy network. Nevertheless, there is an emergence of technologies focused on the development of smart devices, improvements in communications, and the growth of new definitions on asset and service knowledge using distributed databases (i.e. blockchain) that ensure the reliability of the information, facilitating the conceptualization of the future’s energy grid management. A technology such as blockchain amasses three main traits: cybersecurity, low cost transactions, and automation that will allow the integration into the centralized grid of distributed renewable generation, batteries, and flexible charging at a minimum cost and without compromising its trust. A platform like the blockchain would balance the grid in a simple and safe way from both sides and at the same time, increasing the use of the grid’s assets that normally operate at 50% of their capacity.

In ACCIONA we are looking for startups that can help us design the electric grid of the future. How can we guarantee the traceability of energy across the grid? How can we prove the energy is 100% renewable? How can we manage demand? How can we secure the supply chain? How can we ensure that the energy consumed comes from a specific plant? How can we manage the origin certificates in an efficient way?

Solar plants and wind turbines generate variable energy quantities depending on the state of the weather, so electric grids are built to manage power levels we expect at a certain location. However in some cases there is greater sunlight or more wind than predicted and these sources produce more energy than the grid can manage. As more sources of energy generation are installed, issues with intermittence (both by default or excess) of these sources lay on the table the need for better management of the energy excess or its lack-off through storage. However, currently the main solutions in the market are essentially larger versions of lithium-ion batteries that can be found in mobile devices. They can only store energy for a short period of time, and when the charging source is taken out of the equation, these batteries begin to discharge the energy.

At ACCIONA we are thus looking for startups that provide solutions within the development of new technologies for storage or power electronics. How can we store energy in another way? How can we store in a sustainable way? How can we manage the intermittence of renewables? How can we manage demand peaks? How can we reduce the cost of battery installation?

Wind plant extension, their remote location, and the difficulty behind their inspection drives the need in improving the efficiency in the tasks that come from their exploitation: maintenance, inspection, data compeling, etc.

To increase the efficiency of wind infrastructure it’s necessary to apply new technology solutions that help in decision making and speed up in data compiling with the goal of exploiting them and thus reduce the number of failures and stoppage of the machines.

Until now photovoltaic technology has been developed with silicon and thin layers. There is an emergence of new module technologies that could have a high impact on design and conceptualization of new photovoltaic plants, such as bifacial modules, multibusbar, organic photovoltaic technology, perovskites…

The high impact on the modules and the characteristics in the design, conceptualization, and costs of photovoltaic plants makes it necessary to know how they can contribute in the reduction of energy costs and understand other possible applications (environmental, terrain occupation, sustainability, recycling…) in future developments of large photovoltaic plants.

At ACCIONA we are looking for startups that are developing and applying new materials for photovoltaic technology. How can we optimize resources? How can we augment margins? How can we reduce Energy costs? How can we offer added value with more sustainable modules?

Acciona has the need to find new business models in the sphere of renewable energy storage that could offer solutions to challenges in the pouring of energy into the grid (peak demand), empower the storage of energy originating from renewable alternatives, or regulate the frequency.

Offer a solution to these issues through the storage of energy would mean a competitive advantage for ACCIONA against its market rivals, by being able to offer a superior level of service than the rest.

The size and extension of Photovoltaic plant difficult their inspection and maintenance.

Many tasks, performed manually or semi-manually to this day, must be digitalized or supported by technology with the goal of automatizing and reducing costs, both in the maintenance and in the data and information  compiling of the plants.