How one Spanish wind turbine-maker kept the lights on during the blackout
Green power microgrid on Norvento campus featuring wind, solar and biomass with battery backup kept manufacturer up and running as Iberia fell dark
As this week’s unprecedented blackout swept the Iberian Peninsula, one family-owned Spanish wind turbine and clean tech manufacturer was able to keep operations running with an uninterrupted supply of green power at its Galicia headquarters.
Spain and Portugal were plunged into chaos on Monday with traffic and trains falling still and lights going dark amid one of the worst blackout events Europe has faced in decades.
But while businesses and life generally fell to a near standstill for 24 hours, the headquarters of Norvento Enerxía in the small Galician city of Lugo remained powered and operational.
This is because the Norvento Enerxía Innovation Centre and accompanying offices are, according to the company, “one of the few examples of complete energy independence at a corporate headquarters nationwide.”
As befitting of a manufacturer of numerous renewable energy and power technologies, Norvento has built its own microgrid run on wind, solar and biomass, all technology designed and manufactured by the company.
The system is backed up by a battery storage system that ensures a constant supply of power.
These technologies allow the centre “to remain fully operational in critical times like this, but also 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,” said Norvento in an announcement celebrating its achievement this week.
Gustavo Christovam João, a senior sales application engineer at the company, wrote on LinkedIn that it was a “true example of how well-applied technology can make a difference.”
Norvento, which describes itself as a family firm and is led by its founder and current CEO, Pablo Fernández Castro, manufactures the nED100 medium power turbine – a 100kW machine it says is designed for industrial and commercial generation.
It also produces battery energy storage systems and other technologies like power converters and monitoring and control systems. Naturally, it also designs and develops renewable microgrids.
The company also acts as a wind farm developer, with a portfolio of 300MW of installations in Spain and around 1GW in development in the country and internationally.