AquaWind, the European innovative project integrating marine renewable energy with aquaculture in the Atlantic Basin, has successfully held its mid-project meeting at GOBCAN’s facilities in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
The event, which took place on March 12–13, 2024, brought together a variety of partners and experts in renewable energy and aquaculture to share progress and discuss future strategies for the project.
On the first day of the meeting (12 March), following an institutional welcome from the Regional Government of Canary Islands represented by its Agency ACIISI, Sonia Karasavvidou, the Project Officer from the Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) of the European Commission, gave an introduction to the group. Attendees were provided with an overview of the AquaWind project, highlighting its importance and objectives, by the project Coordinator, Javier Roo from ACIISI.
During the course of the day, the leaders of each of the seven work packages (WPs) presented the progress made to date. From the creation of enabling legal and social conditions to progress on design and prototype testing in the port, as well as project coordination and the preparation of regular reports, each aspect of the project received detailed attention and analysis.
Business plans, sustainability, project coordination, and communication were also discussed. Each WP presentation was followed by a time set aside for questions and discussions, encouraging partners to collaborate and share ideas.
The second day of the event (13 March) was dedicated to field visits, giving participants the opportunity to explore first-hand the aquaculture systems in the harbour of Taliarte and the W2power prototype, developed by the Spanish company EnerOcean, at ASTICAN premises in the port of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
AquaWind continues to make progress towards its goal of innovatively combining renewable energy and aquaculture in the Atlantic, demonstrating the potential of these technologies to drive sustainability and economic development in the region.
