IHCantabria leads the SEA-LIFT testing at the Cantabria Coastal and Ocean Basin (CCOB)

The Environmental Hydraulics Institute of the Universidad de Cantabria (IHCantabria), in collaboration with the SEA-LIFT project partners, has begun experimental testing to validate the integration of its innovative SEA-LIFT system onto the first full-scale platform at the Cantabria Coastal and Ocean Basin (CCOB). This milestone marks the beginning of the project’s experimental phase, during which the innovative SEA-LIFT technology will be evaluated under conditions representative of marine operations. The SEA-LIFT system enables the assembly of wind turbines with capacities exceeding 20 MW directly on floating platforms using a self-lifting system, eliminating the need for the giant and scarce cranes currently required for conventional installations.

The platform, built on a 1:30 scale, replicates a floating offshore wind platform concept designed by IHCantabria as part of the TRL+ project (Challenges-Collaboration 2015) for 10-MW turbines. On this platform, the IHCantabria team, in collaboration with CENER, has integrated the lifting system developed by NabraWind, consisting of three horizontal supports installed on the platform’s floats, the tower hoisting triangle, and three guide columns, which enable the hoisting process to be controlled in a safe and efficient manner.

In this new phase, staff from the Centro Nacional de Energías Renovables (CENER)—which is responsible for developing the SEA-LIFT control system—have traveled to IHCantabria’s facilities to carry out the initial system integration and commissioning tasks. Specifically, they have verified the operation of the various mechanisms that make up the controller, the integration of the motors onto the scale-model platform, communication tests between equipment, and the preliminary validation of the different subsystems. These activities have made it possible to verify the proper joint operation of the technologies developed by the various partners in the SEA-LIFT project, as well as to confirm the proper integration of all the project’s technological developments.

Once the system integration on this first full-scale platform is complete, new dry-run validation tests will be conducted to verify that the system is functioning properly. Subsequently, the project will continue with the integration of the system on a second full-scale platform, based on SATH technology developed by Saitec.

Once this phase is complete, the testing campaign will begin at the IHCantabria (CCOB) Large Marine Engineering Tank, where the performance of the SEA-LIFT system will be experimentally evaluated on both platform configurations under conditions representative of the marine environment. The goal will be to validate the technology across different floating platform designs and demonstrate its viability as a solution for the installation and maintenance of offshore wind turbines.

In addition to its technical significance, this phase of the project has required close coordination among the various disciplines and participating entities, thereby strengthening technological integration, knowledge transfer, and collaborative work within the consortium.

The SEA-LIFT project aims to develop an innovative solution for the installation and maintenance of offshore wind farms. This technology will increase the availability of installation resources, provide greater flexibility in project planning and execution, and reduce dependence on large crane ships and highly specialized port infrastructure.

The project consortium estimates that SEA-LIFT will reduce the costs associated with this type of operation by a factor of three to five compared to conventional methods. In addition, its self-lifting design will reduce the need for large-capacity port infrastructure, making it easier for ports that currently lack such capabilities to participate in the deployment of floating offshore wind farms.

In a context marked by the continuous increase in the size of wind turbines and by the ambitious offshore wind capacity targets set for 2030 and 2050, SEA-LIFT will contribute to the development of more efficient, flexible, and competitive solutions for the installation and operation of offshore wind farms.

The partners in the SEA-LIFT project are: Nabrawind, Saitec, Tetrace, INGECID, CENER, and IHCantabria.