TECNALIA leads the installation in Mutriku of a floating eco-concrete structure for offshore photovoltaics
The low-carbon, high-performance eco-concrete features bio-based anti-fouling materials, making it an environmentally friendly solution
Mutriku, 12 December 2025. Today, TECNALIA research and technological development centre led the installation of a new floating photovoltaic structure at its marine laboratory in Mutriku. The structure has been built with new high-performance eco-concrete, which is also low-carbon and environmentally friendly.
- In addition, new anti-fouling coatings have been applied to this platform, developed with compounds from biomass, which help to reduce the environmental impact and prolong the system’s useful life.
- The deployment is part of the European project Natursea-PV, which develops innovative and sustainable structures and materials for offshore solar energy.
Today, TECNALIA, with the collaboration of Natursea-PV partners (Preffor, RDC, Polymat and EHU), installed this scale structure in the sea to validate competitive and sustainable solutions for solar energy generation at sea. In order to analyse its effectiveness, the structure and materials have undergone laboratory tests to assess the structural behaviour, durability and energy efficiency before being installed in the marine laboratory in Mutriku.
This laboratory, the only one of its kind, also enables companies in the energy sector to validate their developments for offshore photovoltaic technologies in a controlled and real environment. With this new development, TECNALIA strengthens its ability to collaborate with industrial actors seeking innovative solutions in the field of floating solar energy.
NaturSea-PV
NaturSea-PV, a European project coordinated by TECNALIA, is developing a floating photovoltaic substructure inspired by nature, specifically the design of the lily flower leaf, to meet the requirements needed to withstand the extreme conditions of the high seas. Ultra-high performance concrete with a lower carbon footprint will be developed and new bio-based antifouling coatings will be used as the material to build the floating substructure.
Eight institutions (TECNALIA, Stichting Maritiem Research Instituut Nederland, University of Bordeaux, University College Cork, Technical University of Darmstadt, EHU, Polymat, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Tinexta Innovation Hub and IST-ID - Associação do Instituto Superior Técnico para a Investigação e Desenvolvimento) and two companies (Prefabricados Formex and Research & Development Concretes) from Spain, Ireland, France, the Netherlands, Italy and Germany are collaborating in the project.