Cristina Escaloni receives the IEC 1906 Award for her contribution to IECRE in the field of marine energy
Cristina Escaloni Casal IEC 1906 Award from the International Electrotechnical Commission
“Beyond the recognition itself, what I value most is that it comes from the IECRE international community itself—from professionals with extensive international experience in the marine energy sector whom I admire and from whom I am constantly learning.” Cristina Escaloni
The IEC is the international organization that develops standards for electrical and electronic technologies. Within this framework, IECRE is its conformity assessment system for renewable energy technologies, which facilitates the application of international standards and builds confidence in the sector’s design, testing, and certification processes.
Cristina Escaloni Casal, an engineer with the Offshore Engineering and Marine Energy Group at the Environmental Hydraulics Institute of the Universidad de Cantabria (IHCantabria), has received the IEC 1906 Award from the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), in recognition of her individual contribution to the work of IECRE in the field of marine energy.
The IEC 1906 Award honors professionals whose contributions have been identified and valued by their peers within the organization. It is not, therefore, an award for which one applies, but rather a recognition of commitment, technical expertise, and effective contributions to the development of IEC’s activities. The award was announced through the Spanish Association for Standardization (UNE), the Spanish standardization body and national representative to the IEC.
At IECRE, Cristina serves as coordinator of Working Group 361, which focuses on the recognition of certification bodies and testing laboratories in the marine energy sector, and she is also a member of the Marine Energy Sector Working Group. Her participation contributes to the development of frameworks that make testing, methodologies, and conformity assessment processes more robust, comparable, and internationally recognized.
This line of work has been strengthened at IHCantabria through the MAR+ project, led by Cristina, which integrates experimental, methodological, and standardization activities related to marine energy technologies. In this context, the Institute has obtained, for the first time, conformity assessments for a Wave Resource Assessment (WRA) and a Site Conditions Assessment (SCA). In addition, the scouring test methodology has been certified, and methodologies related to floating structures and wave energy converters are currently under development.
“MAR+ has allowed me to delve deeper into an area as essential as standardization and conformity assessment. These are issues that often take a back seat, but they are essential for ensuring the quality, traceability, and international recognition of the technical work we do,” explains Cristina Escaloni.
These milestones are based on the capabilities that IHCantabria’s Offshore Engineering and Marine Energy Group and Hydraulics Laboratory have developed over the years, and they reinforce the Institute’s position as a leading center for testing and methodologies related to marine energy technologies.
