Acciona has developed a solution in the field of hybridisation between wind and photovoltaic power. It consists of covering a wind turbine tower with flexible organic panels to produce energy for the internal electricity consumption of the turbine.
The system has been installed in one of the turbines of the Breña Wind Farm (Albacete, Spain).The turbine is an AW77/1500 of Nordex-Acciona Windpower technology, mounted on an 80-metre-high steel tower (hub height). Installed on the tower are 120 solar panels facing southeast-southwest to capture the maximum of the sun's rays throughout the day. They are distributed at eight different heights, occupying around 50 metres of the tower's surface area. The photovoltaic modules, with an overall capacity of 9.36kWp.
The immediate application of the Breña project is to produce part of the energy that the internal systems of the wind turbine need. The new photovoltaic system with panels on the tower will be able to cover, completely or partially, the energy demand related to the operation of the wind turbine when there is solar radiation, or even -in a possible later phase of the project- when the sun is not shining. This would be done through a battery storage system.