The Port of Valencia hosts the first prototype of floating solar energy in marine waters

VALENCIA, 12 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The PV NEXUS startup has launched the first unit of an innovative pilot project for floating solar energy in Spanish marine waters in the Port of Valencia.

The founder and Director of Development of the company, Mohamed Amine Koubaa, has detailed that the PVFOILX1-PORTS- floating solar energy project in marine waters aims to study the initial technical feasibility of a new modular floating photovoltaic system that would allow obtaining clean energy. through solar panels installed on sea water.

The pilot test, developed in the waters of the Port of Valencia, aims to define and overcome different technical challenges such as the manufacture of solar panels in composite materials or the optimization of structural behavior with innovative designs to optimize the environmental loads caused by waves, currents and the wind, as explained by the Port Authority of Valencia (APV) in a statement.

After months of design, numerical simulations and manufacturing in the Structures Laboratory of the ETSI of Roads, Canals and Ports (Retiro Building) of the Polytechnic University of Madrid, the first phase of experimentation has been launched in the waters of the Valencian dock. . To this end, a first small-scale prototype has been installed that has a power of less than 1 KWp, monitored and controlled remotely by IoT technology.

From the I D i perspective, key functionalities such as buoyancy adaptable to wave dynamics and the robotization of its positioning have been studied, the results of which are the basis for more advanced studies.

The president of the Port Authority of Valencia (APV), Joan Calabuig, has assured that "Valenciaport will support all those innovations like this that involve clearly moving towards decarbonization and the energy transition."

"This is one more step and obviously has our full support to be able to promote the change of energy in the ports that helps us achieve the zero emissions goal in 2030," he highlighted.

PV NEXUS has highlighted the value provided by the development of the prototype in a challenging environment such as the marine port, since, beyond numerical simulations, it allows valuable conclusions to be drawn and offers guarantees for favorable execution in subsequent pre-commercial phases.

In this sense, the startup is already studying the possibility of developing new larger-scale pilots, including a potential integration for the production of Green Hydrogen, which thanks to the Ports 4.0 program would open a wide range of growth possibilities for the project.

The project is part of the Ports 4.0 program, of the Port of Valencia and the Valenciaport Foundation. The Ports 4.0 capital fund is the corporate open innovation model adopted by State Ports and the Spanish Port Authorities to attract, support and facilitate the application of talent and entrepreneurship to the public and private Spanish port-logistics sector in the context of the 4th industrial Revolution.

The main objective of the fund is to actively promote and incorporate disruptive or incremental innovation as an element of competitiveness, efficiency, sustainability, safety and protection in the Spanish port-logistics sector, both public and private, to facilitate its transition towards economy 4.0.

Floating photovoltaic solar energy is set to develop strongly in the coming years, and with initiatives such as Ports 4.0, Spain could become a European benchmark.