CENER, FOUNDING PARTNER OF A EUROPEAN CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE ON WIND ENERGY

Nine key research organisations and universities, all members of EERA JP Wind, signed a cooperative agreement to establish a European Centre of Excellence (EuCoE) on wind energy to boost European leadership in onshore and offshore wind energy research.

The EuCoE will be the platform where private and public funding will come together, defining the research needs from both academia and industry and formulating the projects that will deliver the necessary solutions.

The signing organisations are SINTEF, DTU, ForWind, TNO, Fraunhofer, ORE Catapult, NTNU, CIEMAT and CENER.

The ambition of the European Centre of Excellence is to strengthen Europe’s long-term leadership in wind energy research through effective coordination, collaboration, and funding leverage. Activities are expected to include collaborative research projects within a co-funded research programme.

“The signing of the memorandum of understanding to create a Center of Excellence is the commitment that 9 European institutions are making to address the new challenges of the wind sector beyond the 2050 objectives set by the European Commission”, said Antonio Ugarte, Director of the Energy Wind Department of CENER. “This initiative is the spearhead for the great deployment of research that Europe needs at this time. Now there are 9 research institutions that have taken a step forward to create a collaborative body at the European level, but in the coming years we will see how the Center of Excellence integrates the vast majority of research centers and universities, as well as the industry of the sector. The wind sector is demanding essential technological solutions for the growth and expansion of wind energy and the creation and development of this new Center of Excellence will provide the appropriate answers”, he concluded.

The European Centre of Excellence will be managed by EERA JP Wind and is intended to integrate the other members of the Joint Programme and potentially new ones in the future as its work progresses.