The Spanish National Renewable Energy Centre (CENER)
ContactCentro Nacional de Energías RenovablesC/ Ciudad de la Innovación 7 CP : 31621 - Sarriguren - Spain phone: (+34) 948 25 28 00 fax. (+34) 948 27 07 74 e-mail: jperez@cener.com e-mail: mlasa@cener.com e-mail: favia@cener.com web: www.cener.com |
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The Spanish National Renewable Energy Centre (CENER) is a national technological centre dedicated to research, development
and promotion of renewable energies in Spain. It was founded in 2002 and it operates in six main areas: wind power,
solar thermal, photovoltaic, biomass, bioclimatic architecture and power electronics.
CENER participates in key areas of R&D, offers the very latest technological services, and is involved in training schemes and
in standardization committees.
The CENER wind energy department was set up to support the industrial sector and to act as a technological referent both at
national and international level. The department is clearly positioned as an independent body at the service of the major
agents in the sector, including developers, manufacturers, certification authorities, financial institutions, users, associations
and administrative bodies. The department is engaged in providing the services required by the different agents and in developing
new technologies aimed at promoting and improving the competitiveness of the wind sector. With this two-fold objective,
work is being carried out on different research projects, both internally and in cooperation with technological centers,
institutions and companies. Intensive work is being carried out on standardization, with active participation in national and international
regulation development work groups.
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Research groups involved
The CENER wind energy department has a scientific staff of 80 specialized scientist, engineers and technicians. The department
is organized in three groups: Wind test laboratory and Certification, providing services for Wind Power Curve, Power
Quality, Loads and Noise measurements according with the IEC standards.
In March 2004 CENER signed a collaboration agreement with Det Norske Veritas (DNV) for the standard certification of wind
turbines in Spain, in agreement with the outlines of IEC-61400-WT01.
| Wind test laboratory and Certification, providing services for: | Wind Power Curve, Power Quality, Loads and Noise measurements according with the IEC standards Blade structural testing Drive train testing Materials testing and blade manufacturing process technology Wind tunnel testing |
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In March 2004 CENER signed a collaboration agreement with Det Norske Veritas (DNV) for the standard certification of wind turbines in Spain, in agreement with the outlines of IEC-61400-WT01.
| Wind analysis and design of Wind Turbines. The group is currently comprised of 20 people, grouped into the following knowledge areas: | Aerodynamics Structural mechanics Control Composite materials and blade manufacturing processes |
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| Assessment and prediction of wind resources. The wind resources assessment group offers the following services: | Preparation of wind energy resource maps Energy assessment of wind farm locations Prediction of energy production for wind farms Project audits |
CENER is already involved in several projects aiming at the development of new technologies in the wind energy field that require performingfull scale test of wind turbines and components.
Facilities & Advanced Research Tools
| Wind Turbine Test Laboratory | To perform on site different field tests: Power curve, Energy quality, Acoustic noise, and Mechanical loads |
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| Blade Test Laboratory | To perform tests in agreement with standard 61400-23 (Full-scale structural testing of rotor blades). Possibility to test simultaneously 2 blades of up to 75 m. Static and dynamic test and characterisation of physical properties, as well as pitch bearing tests. Two 30 T cranes. 8 static actuators with capacity ranging from 100 to 400 kN. Hydraulic actuators for resonance fatigue testing. Hydraulic equipment for blade assembly. Test rigs designed for 100,000 kNm (static) and 50,000 kNm (dynamic). |
| Drive train test bench | To perform mechanical tests on the drive train (including gear box) of wind turbines up to 5 MW, with hydraulic actuators to apply loads on WTG components to simulate efforts coming from rotor and wind. Static and dynamic tests. Mainly oriented to fatigue test. One Indoor 100 T crane. Specific instrumentation: Two data acquisition systems and electric measurement equipment. Remote control of the test benches with visual access to benches to improve safety in operation |
| Electrical Test Bench | To perform tests on generator and power electronic equipment of wind turbines up to 5 MW. It also allows performing complete nacelle functional tests when adding mechanical reducer already available on bench. |
| Nacelle assembly test bench | Outdoor WTG assembly bench to perform tests on tooling and to train personnel for assembly and maintenance activities. |
| Composite Materials Laboratory | Composite materials characterization laboratory. Workshop for development and testing of blade manufacturing processes |
| Experimental Wind Farm (at planning stage) | Large wind turbines testing in complex terrain, on prototypes up to 5 MW rated power wind turbine. Average wind speed: 8 m/s. 6 positions up to 5 MW WT. Electrical Infrastructure: Medium Voltage (20kV). Substation: 20kV/66kV. Instrumentation: Calibrated Sites. Meteo towers. |
| Wind Tunnel (at planning stage) | For characterization of aerodynamic airfoil characteristics, optimised for the following kind of tests: Static 2D profile testing, Dynamic 2D profile testing (Pitching and Plunging), Aero-acoustic measurement and Flow visualisations. |
| Measurement Equipment | Hardware and software for measuring mechanical loads and vibration, noise, power quality and wind characteristics (including LIDAR systems). Mobile equipment for data acquisition and communication. |
| Software | Standard software for WT design (Bladed, Fast, ..) and Wind Flow simulation (Fluent, Wasp, ...), EEM (MSC.Nastran, Marc), MBS (MSC.Adams), CAE (Unigraphics, Fibersim, Autocad) In-house developed software: Wind generator modelling tool, aimed at the design of controllers (in Matlab-Simulink). Wind generator dynamic analysis tool, aimed at pre-dimensioning the entire system and obtaining loads in wind generators. Wind generator design specific CFD code (collaboration with Glasgow University). |
| Accreditation | Wind Turbine Test Laboratory ENAC accreditation as a test laboratory (Dossier No. 355/LE803). MEASNET member |
R&D Strategy
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| short | medium | long | |
| CFD model for simulation of the wind field and wakes |  | | |
| Coupling of mesoscale-CFD and turbine load models | | |
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| Mesoscale and statistical models for characterisation of extreme winds | | | |
| New measurement techniques (LIDAR) | | | |
| New meteorological models for the wind prediction | | |
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| Advanced statistical models to detect and eliminate systematic prediction errors | | ||
| Mesoscale models for wind mapping | | | |
| New concepts for Wind turbines and components | | | |
| New wind turbines design tools | | |
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| New materials and manufacturing process for large WT | | |
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| Offshore Wind Resource assessment | | | |
| Wind Turbine design for offshore wind power plants | | |
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| Support Structure design for offshore wind power plants | | |
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| Electrical lay-out of offshore wind power plants and grid connection | | |
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Education and training activities
CENER is involved in several courses for training technical personal in different fields of the wind energy sector, and is collaborating with universities and others centers in different undergraduate and post-graduate training programs.
