PLOCAN opens €3.5M electrical infrastructure tender

The Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Canary Islands has issued a tender for the realization of works related to the electrical infrastructure at PLOCAN test site.

Under the €3.5 million tender notice, the scope of work includes the supply, installation and commissioning of the electrical and communications infrastructure (IECOM), as well as the management, control and execution of the project and the works required for the commissioning of the infrastructure.

IECOM infrastructure will include a medium voltage cable at 13.2 V with a maximum export capacity of 15 MW for the transmission of the offshore generated energy, according to PLOCAN.

The infrastructure will be mostly underwater, comprising hybrid cabling, with copper cables for the transmission of electrical power and fibre optics for data and images, hybrid connectors, including a short terrestrial section to connect to the electrical substation on land.

The tender closes on July 27, 2016.

PLOCAN test site occupies an area of 23 square kilometres of the coastal strip between Piedra Santa and Taliarte on the north-eastern coast of Gran Canaria. It enables the testing of marine renewable energy devices under real, operational and extreme conditions.

Since these technologies generate electricity from primary energy, marine electrical infrastructure connected to the transmission network is required to evacuate the offshore energy generated during the tests of new marine generation technologies.

Last August, the Town Hall of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, EMALSA and PLOCAN signed a collaboration agreement for the development of the IECOM for the evacuation of electrical energy generated at the PLOCAN test site to an electrical substation owned by EMALSA, through the temporary assignment of the use of the existing electrical infrastructure at Piedra Santa in Jinámar.

PLOCAN (Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands) is a research facility co-funded by the Economy and Competitiveness Ministry of the Spanish government and the Canary Islands government, with the aim of supporting the research and development in the fields of ocean science and technology.

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