IHCantabria participated in the ninth edition of the National Congress of the Technical Association of Ports and Coasts.

This week, research staff from the Institute of Environmental Hydraulics of the University of Cantabria(IHCantabria) participated in the ninth edition of the National Congress of the Technical Association of Ports and Coasts (ATPYC), which took place in Coruña, from October 2 to 4.

Under the slogan “Contribution of Ports and coasts to the energy transition”, thiscongress has allowed to share knowledge and technical experiences of great interest for the port and coastal sector, from the high quality of the papers presented during the three days of the event and the proposed debates. The congress was organized by ATPYC, Puertos del Estado and the Port of A Coruña.

On behalf of IHCantabria, the following research staff participated in this congress: Antonio Tomás Sampedro, Gabriel Díaz Hernández, Raúl Guanche García, Beatriz Rodríguez Fernández and Delia Regueira Muñiz.

Within the program of this congress, on Thursday, October 3, the head of the Ports and Coastal Infrastructures Group of IHCantabria, Antonio Tomás Sampedro, presented the paper entitled “New developments in the characterization of wave energy in ports”. He intervened on behalf of the following group of co-authors (besides him), who are linked to IHCantabria: Cristina Casal Escaloni, Eva Romano-Moreno, Álvaro Rodriguez Luis, Gabriel Díaz Hernández, Alejandro González Valle and Raúl Guanche García.

In this presentation, Antonio Tomás explained that, for the correct design and optimization of the efficiency of new wave energy harvesting devices, as well as to identify the most appropriate areas for their installation, “it is crucial to know the wave energy potential, which depends directly on the wave climate conditions in the area of interest. Therefore, an adequate characterization of the wave climate and the existing resource is essential, both at a historical and predictive level”. In his work, Antonio Tomás presented an advanced methodology for the modeling and characterization of these variables, which allows the generation of state-of-the-art historical databases ─both wave climate and wave resource─, as well as their subsequent implementation as a short-term prediction system.

“The implementation of the digital twin of the Mutriku plant represents a significant advance in the optimization of OWC(Oscillating Water Column) technologies. This numerical model, developed under the MAR+ project, allows an accurate simulation of the operation of each chamber and their interaction, thus improving plant management,” explained Antonio Tomás, who also described the methodology used and the results obtained, which are currently being calibrated ─with field data─ to ensure their accuracy and efficiency. The digital twin developed by IHCantabria personnel facilitates a detailed characterization of the wave climate and energy potential, which makes it a crucial tool for the design and improvement of wave energy devices.

The MAR+ project was developed with the grant CPP2021-009079 (MAR+ Accelerator of Marine Renewable Technologies), funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation and by the European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR. For the implementation of the aforementioned digital twin by IHCantabria, the contribution of the project “ECCLIPSE (Evaluation of Climate Change in Ports of Southwest Europe)”, which has been funded by the European Union through the “Interreg Sudoe” program, has been key. In addition to thanking these grants, Antonio Tomás expressed his gratitude to the Biscay Marine Energy Platform(BiMEP), the Ente Vasco de la Energía (EVE) and ValenciaPort, in recognition of their contributions and support to the work of IHCantabria.

More information on the IX National Congress of the ATPYC, through this link.