Periodic Reporting for period 1 - LiraTower (Novel concept of cost-effective and simplified in-situ concrete tower of 140m for harnessing higher and more consistent wind velocities and enhancing the power output of wind turbines)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2015-08-01 do 2015-10-31
Task 1: Determination of the detailed scope of the project, by estimating the timing, budget, and specific activities required for the design, certification, industrialization, and commercialization processes of LiraTower.
Task 2: Identification of potential stakeholders (ie. construction partners, key partners, wind manufacturer third parties) in the European wind energy market to establish commercial agreements offering our LiraTower design and construction tools.
Task 3: A cost estimation of the Design Assessment of the 134m high LiraTower for a GAMESA G132-3.3MW WTG has been carried out.
Task 4: A deep intellectual property and regulations analysis (IPR) have been carried out in order to assess LiraTower patent application (P201530080) freedom-to-operate status. The patent of others have been analysed to determine whether LiraTower solution infringed any other patent claim.
Task 5: A thorough research of LiraTower target market has been done, analysing both the European and Global wind energy sector; supply vs demand, future trends, financial benefits, government support, and legislation are included.
Task 6: The Market Study also refines the analysis of the potential competitors, showing evidences of the LiraTower project profitability in the target markets while emphasizing its competitive advantages.
Task 7: A commercialization strategy of LiraTower has been elaborated. To get into direct contact with European potential clients various channels will be used: directly, trade fairs, conferences, and flagship projects. Other communication ways such as a web page and publications will be also used.
Task 8: The financial assessment of the LiraTower solution set the business margins for entering the market of next-generation wind turbines, considering the first sales activity in 2018 and a prediction of sales and benefits until 2022. Contract alternatives such as non-exclusive licensing of our patent and/or as revenue share have been considered.
Task 9: Evaluation of the project risks from a technical, commercial, and financial perspective has been carried out along with their mitigation plan.
In addition, a business plan has been done to complete the LiraTower marketing strategy in line with the current state and future commercial plans of the project.
The development of an in-situ constructed, cost-efficient full-concrete tower of 134m (ca. 45, 38 and 29% less expensive than conventional steel, hybrid and precast concrete towers, respectively) with an operational lifetime up to 40 years and reduction of CO2 emission up to 60%, that enable our customers to reduce O&M costs (other tower solutions have 80-85% more O&M costs than LiraTower).
The development and promotion in the wind energy sector of an alternative and novel design loads and tower clearance criteria than those used hitherto.
The design of a tower which simplified the construction process by a self-climbing and constant framework (efficient construction process with ca. 15% of cost reduction in comparison to other concrete towers) and is erected through consecutive in-situ casting sections, limiting logistic costs and elevation cranes (expenses grow up to 70-85% for other solutions).
The design of a monolithic full-concrete and in-situ constructed LiraTower of 134m tall for a GAMESA G132-3.3MW with the possibility to erect a hybrid tower using LiraTower technology.
The patent of our LiraTower innovative solution of in-situ constructed monolithic (no fatigue vulnerable joints and no derived costs of joint inspection) wind turbine tower of constant diameter (only 4m vs. 6.8m in base for some precast solutions) with an unique post-tensioned shaft system and foundations with minimum dimensions (15-17m vs. 25m for some precast towers, less concrete needed).
Gaining the Certification Report and further Statement of Compliance for the Design Assessment of the GAMESA LiraTower in accordance with the GL – Guideline for the Certification of Wind Turbines, Edition 2010.
The development, in the near future, of tailored solutions based on our LiraTower technology for other European WTG manufacturers (Vestas, Nordex, Enercon, Siemens) enabling ≥3MW wind turbine to reach higher altitudes and consequently increasing their energy output up to 7 and 26% more power than if installed at 120 and 80m heights, respectively.
We expect to have over 4.34M€ net profit by 2022. With an additional 0.82M€ being necessary to go on with the development of LiraTower, a market introduction in 2018 and by 2022 600MW installed (190 units) we estimate our break‐even point to be reached in the 3rd year after market introduction.