TECNALIA collaborates with startup Surion Wind Systems to accelerate the modernization of wind farms

The Alava-based startup specializes in the design and manufacture of advanced solutions for wind farm refurbishment

TECNALIA joins Surion Wind System as a collaborator and technology partner, contributing its expertise in the design of power control systems and setting up a full-scale test bench to validate the system’s performance

TECNALIA has joined the Alava-based startup Surion Wind Systems, which specializes in the design and manufacture of advanced solutions for the renovation of wind farms, as a collaborator and technology partner.

The collaboration between the research and technological development center and the startup responds to an urgent need: to modernize and extend the useful life of existing wind farms, especially in regions such as Europe and the United States, where large fleets of wind turbines are facing aging, loss of power, and pressure to increase the efficiency of installed capacity. Thus, repowering—partial or total renovation—is presented as the most viable and advantageous option to ensure continuity and promote wind energy generation.

TECNALIA’s contribution

TECNALIA contributes its experience in the design of power control systems, a collaboration that focuses on three areas: providing Surion Wind Systems with access to its own developments, specialized software, and industrial property for the development of the power control system in wind systems; creating advanced tools for load analysis, loss segregation in electric generators, and dynamic behavior modeling; and developing a functional prototype and setting up a full-scale test bench to validate the system’s performance.

As José Luis Villate, Director of Renewable Energy and Thermal Efficiency at TECNALIA, explains, “with this participation in Surion Wind Systems, the innovations proposed by the startup will accelerate the repowering process for a large number of existing wind farms, helping to achieve highly profitable business models and facilitating environmental processing.” TECNALIA’s contribution is aimed precisely at overcoming the main technological challenges with the goal of having a product ready in time to provide an efficient alternative to the repowering business.

TECNALIA’s collaboration with Surion Wind Systems is part of the deeptech4Impact initiative, through which the center contributes its technological capabilities. It is a model of commitment to services and industrial property that allows startups in very early stages of development to reach the market more quickly and with a more robust proposal.

With this collaboration, TECNALIA expands its portfolio of deeptech startups, managed by TECNALIA Ventures, to 16. In 2024, the value of the portfolio of investees increased by 187%, their companies increased their turnover by 83% and attracted €74 million in capital.

A disruptive technological solution

Surion Wind Systems offers a solution that allows for partial repowering, replacing only the key components of the wind turbine and reusing up to 48% of the existing infrastructure. This reduces repowering costs by up to 44%, optimizing investment and minimizing environmental impact. Its innovative design, based on a multiple transmission train and a modular structure, allows for the installation of between 1.5MW and 3.0MW of power with very low investment and maintenance costs. In addition, the wind turbine’s design is conceived to facilitate local manufacturing, promoting reindustrialization and revitalizing regional supplier networks.

According to Rubén Ruiz de Gordejuela, managing director at Surion Wind Systems, “the company combines several differentiating technological factors with the aim of optimizing the repowering process, industrialization, optimizing the company as a whole, and maintenance, applying the latest offshore technologies to onshore.”