More efficient offshore wind turbine construction with Elisa technology Esteyco receives award as winner of the first Offshore Innovation Award at the 16th Hamburg Offshore Wind Conference

Construction tower instead of installation ship – with the help of the “Elisa technology”, offshore wind turbines can be built more quickly, smoothly and cost-effectively in greater water depths in the future. The Spanish company Esteyco developed the tower, which is particularly durable and requires little maintenance thanks to the concrete used. The wind turbine, which is fully pre-assembled in the port, can be driven to the installation site and installed without heavy-duty cranes due to its own buoyancy. A prototype of the “Elisa” tower was installed a few days ago in the port of Arinaga, Gran Canaria.

Esteyco won the first Offshore Innovation Award at yesterday's 16th Hamburg Offshore Wind Conference (HOW 2019). A total of eight projects and companies from Germany and abroad had applied. The participants of the 16th HOW voted the winner live following presentations of the four short-listed nominees, who won 2,000 euros prize money in addition to being honoured. The Renewable Energy Hamburg Cluster and the certification and consulting company DNV GL jointly organised the HOW for the third time in a row.

“We are very pleased that Esteyco won with their ‘Elisa Technology’ and prevailed against a very high-calibre field of participants. The offshore wind industry can only develop further with innovations like these. This is why we will again be presenting an Offshore Innovation Award at the 17th Hamburg Offshore Wind Conference next year to honour inventors in the industry,” says Renewable Energy Hamburg Cluster’s Managing Director Jan Rispens.

“When four top-class innovations from all over Europe present themselves at the Hamburg Offshore Wind Conference, all of which promise great progress for the global offshore wind market, this shows above all one thing: the industry does not stagnate, it continues to develop visibly. Hamburg is the capital of the global wind industry and we congratulate Esteyco on winning the first Offshore Innovation Award against strong competition,” said Marko Ibsch, Managing Director of DNV GL – Energy.

The evaluation criteria for the pre-selection for the Offshore Innovation Award 2019 included practical utility and market success, the extent of (technical) innovation, the potential for significant cost reductions in offshore wind farms, the overall technical impression and practical applicability.