Saitec Entrusts Aiyon Abogados with the Expert Advice on its Offshore Wind Project DemoSATH
The Basque company Saitec Offshore Engineering has developed a novel technology for floating wind turbines called SATH.
This system will be tested in the DemoSATH project in open waters, specifically in Biscayan waters, in the BIMEP test area, off the coast of Armintza, to test its operation in real sea conditions, and it will also be connected to the electricity grid. In this way, all the necessary parameters will be tested before its mass commercial launch.
For the construction of the first prototype, Saitec has contacted local suppliers in every possible way. Thus, the company points out that around 75% of the construction contracts have been made with suppliers in the immediate vicinity.
Among these necessary suppliers is Aiyon Abogados, a law firm specialising in maritime law, which has collaborated in the DemoSATH project together with Saitec. Its work has focused on legal advice on the special contracts for the marine operations necessary for the launching of the floating offshore wind turbine, the installation of its anchoring system in BIMEP, as well as for its transfer to this test area and its subsequent connection to the submarine cable.
The collaboration has been very fluid, with constant communication and a very satisfactory result, as it has offered the necessary solutions to the challenges posed by the project. “They have shown total interest in collaborating beyond the scope originally proposed and are very resolute and will undoubtedly be one of our fundamental supports in the future, both in the legal and insurance areas”, says Esteban Núñez, from Saitec, during the guided visit he made to Mikel Garteiz-goxeaskoa, Zuberoa Elorriaga and Irantzu Sedano at the Port of Bilbao.
The technology of the prototype was developed entirely by Saitec Offshore Technologies, a spin-off of Saitec engineering, based in Leioa (Bizkaia), which dates back to 1989. As a differentiating element, the platform on which the tower and the wind turbine stand was built with concrete as the raw material. This first unit will be connected to the electricity grid, providing energy equivalent to the consumption of around 2,000 homes. The prototype will be installed two nautical miles off the coast and will be anchored to the seabed, in an area 85 metres deep.
The complex loading operation of the DemoSATH floating concrete wind turbine will be carried out by SPMTs, a system of trolleys that will bring the unit from the construction position to the edge of the quay where a self-submersible pontoon will be waiting for it. The 140m long barge “Boa Barge 33” will be submerged to float the assembly with the wind turbine installed at a height of more than 90m.
This operation will mark another milestone in the programming of critical events of the project, already developed or yet to come, in which nothing can go wrong and in which expert advice, such as that provided by Aiyon Abogados in its field, becomes indispensable.
