MAREC partners with Spanish group for further Great Lakes wind energy research

A partnership between a Spanish renewable energy research group and Grand Valley’s Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center will allow for more comprehensive wind energy research on the Great Lakes and a connection to Europe, which is more advanced in the area of wind energy development.

CENER (Centro Nacional De Energias Renovables) National Renewable Energy Center, based in Pamplona, Spain, will work with MAREC to research wind patterns in Lake Michigan that will lead to developing advanced mapping technology, something that has never been done on the Great Lakes. The wind data mapping will provide new data about wind resources which will assist in evaluating the viability of developing an offshore wind industry on the Great Lakes. CENER (“sin-air”) will also help Grand Valley’s Padnos College of Engineering and Computing manage data collected from the offshore wind study.

“CENER has very deep knowledge in a number of technology and engineering areas relating to renewable energy, and wind in particular,” said Arn Boezaart, director of MAREC.

The partnership came about following an agreement in early 2010 by former Michigan Gov. Granholm and the governor of the Navarro region of Spain. The partnership was arranged by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC). Boezaart became aware of CENER’s interest after talking with colleagues at West Michigan Energy; a memorandum of understanding was recently signed to finalize the relationship.

Javier San-Miguel Armendariz, product manager for CENER, said: “We believe partnering with Grand Valley is an excellent opportunity to link efforts between U.S. and Europe in renewable energy technologies. The main goal of this partnership is to promote the knowledge sharing of the best experts in this field across the Atlantic Ocean.”

Learn more about CENER at www.cener.com. For more information about the new partnership, contact T. Arnold (Arn) Boezaart at (616) 331-6905 or Grand Valley News and Information Services at (616) 331-2221.