06/16/2023

Arantxa Esparza, from Nabrawind, awarded for best Spanish invention of 2023

The pile foundation patent for the Nabralift tower, which reduces concrete consumption by 80%, was awarded as the best patent of the year by the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office.

Esparza during the construction of the first pile foundation in Morocco (Image: Nabrawind)

Nabrawind was the protagonist in the II OEPM 2023 Invention Award when Arantxa Esparza, project manager at the Spanish-based company, received the award for the best patent in the absolute category. The ceremony, held at the School of the Industrial Association in Madrid, honored the best patents and utility models granted in 2021 in Spain.

Arantxa Esparza during the acceptance of the award, presented by Pablo Garde, Undersecretary of Industry, Commerce and Tourism. The awarded patent, of which Esparza is co-inventor together with Ricardo Savio, Ion Arocena and Eneko Sanz, protects a foundation solution where the traditional large surface slab is replaced by individual piles.

This design allows for an 80% reduction in the amount of concrete used in the foundation, resulting in significant savings in cost and CO2 emissions during the construction of a wind farm.

The award-winning technology has already been used in Nabrawind's first wind farm in Morocco, confirming its advantages, and will be used this year in the company's projects in France and China.

The Spanish Patent and Trademark Office distributed 6 awards in different categories, in an awards whose mission, according to its director Aida Fernandez, "is to promote innovation, creativity and talent in the country, and encourage inventors to protect their ideas".

Esparza, an Industrial Engineer from the Public University of Navarre, dedicated the award to the other co-inventors and the rest of her colleagues at Nabrawind, thanking them for the support that innovation has always had in this company, which already has a portfolio of 20 patent families.