The new lighthouse in the port of Valencia has won the prize for innovation in the infrastructure category at the JEC World 2016 Innovation Awards, the most important awards in the world in the field of composite materials. The award, which will be delivered on March 8 in Paris, has recognized innovation both in the design and in the construction of the 32-meter-high lighthouse located in the northern expansion of the port of Valencia.
The lighthouse, designed by the architect Ignacio Pascual, Infrastructure Director of the Valencia Port Authority, is the first in the world built entirely with composite materials such as carbon fiber and fiberglass, which gives it great lightness, with only 3,000 kilos weight. In this sense, the use of composite materials guarantees greater resistance to exposure to marine environments as they are not affected by corrosion, less maintenance work and a 20% reduction in CO2 emissions in the construction process by require less movement of heavy materials.
The new installation has LED technology, which allows a range of 25 nautical miles, with an electrical consumption of 70 watts and a useful life of 100,000 hours. It is also self-sufficient by using renewable energy. Specifically, the lighthouse incorporates ten solar panels oriented energetically to the south and a vertical axis wind turbine, which contributes to significantly reducing its energy consumption.