As part of the activities of WindEurope Annual Event 2022 in Bilbao on 5-7 April 2022, DURABLE partners showed to the audience new robotic and aerospace technologies and concepts with potential application to Operation & Maintenance tasks of wind energy.
The WindEurope Annual Event was back in Bilbao for 2022. In the framework of the event, the DURABLE Interreg project had an extensive presence and the project aroused the interest of many delegates coming from all over the world. The most relevant activity was the regional workshop and the final event of DURABLE, which served to show the developments and results obtained within the last three years regarding aerial inspection and manipulation of windfarms, additive manufacturing, non-destructive testing, remote control and augmented reality.
TAfter a warm welcome and introduction to the project by Patxi Berard, coordinator of the project, there were six presentations of the technologies developed by technical partners:
- Patxi Berard from ESTIA presented the Virtual Immersive Cockpit Environment (VICE): a versatile virtual cockpit to remotely supervise and control a multi-system of heterogeneous vehicles
- Lexuri Vázquez from LORTEK presented latest developments on additive manufacturing for efficient and sustainable maintenance and fabrication of selected wind turbine components
- Pablo Lopez from LORTEK presented live results obtained from the thermography applied for inspection in wind tower blades components
- Celia Vilches from FADA-CATEC presented results of the design and adaptation of aerial platforms for contact NDT inspection applicable to the wind energy sector
- Trajectory planning for a formation of Unmaned Aerial Vehicles UAV inspecting wind turbines was explained by Angel Rodríguez from University of Seville
- Ibon Diez from ALERION presented "from autonomous drone inspection to digital twin"
At the end of the workshop there was a Beer Party sponsored by the Basque Energy Cluster at the Wind Energy Basque Country stand, were there was a unique opportunity for networking with DURABLE partners and Basque companies.
Additionally, Lexuri Arrizabalaga from Lortek received a poster award for a poster titled Application of Additive Manufacturing for maintenance and repairing in onshore and offshore wind farms focused on the technologies developed in DURABLE.
DURABLE had also an extensive presence in The Basque Energy Cluster Stand, where the project was included in its graphic wall among the most noted innovative European projects.