HarshLab weathers through Epsilon storm

The floating materials and components testing platform, HarshLab, has proven to be robust enough to withstand extreme weather having recently gone through the Epsilon storm unimpaired.

The floating lab, moored off the Biscay Marine Energy Platform (BiMEP), some three kilometres from the Spanish coast, withstood extreme weather conditions with eight-metre waves and winds of up to 20 knots.

Both the mooring lines and the infrastructure itself stood up well to the storm late in October, 2020, and all tests in progress were able to proceed as planned, according to Tecnalia.

“This is the third consecutive winter for HarshLab since it was installed in September 2018. We are confident that after Storm Epsilon, the lab will continue to operate at full capacity”, Tecnalia said in a statement.

HarshLab is an advanced floating platform-laboratory for the evaluation of materials and components in real offshore environment.

The offshore infrastructure is suitable for testing new materials and solutions against corrosion, ageing and fouling in immersion, splash and atmospheric zones.

The lab is said to offer accurate information on the performance of the materials, which allows companies develop offshore energy systems with a high survival rate.

Managed by Tecnalia, HarshLab is open to any institution in the world interested in testing their materials or components in real offshore environment.