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Sotavento ends the school year with almost 4.000 visitors

Sotavento has been able to adapt to the circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic redesigning their activities to minimize the negative impact of the new sanitary and economic situation.

With this purpose two new formats of educational activities have been introduced in addition to the usual ones: activities at schools and online activities.

Furthermore, several demonstrative projects have been carried out, such as a solar energy storage system and a predictive management system for underfloor heating, that have been presented on the 21st June 2021 during the celebration of the 20th anniversary of Sotavento.

The training activities have also played an important role during the year. As an example, it’s interesting to highlight the collaboration with the MATES project (Maritime Alliance for Fostering the European Blue Economy through a Marine Technology Skilling Strategy), a pilot activity focused on the training of wind energy educators, whose purpose is strengthening the abilities of technical teachers to train the future workers of the offshore wind energy sector.

The results show a total of 163 visits booked during the school year 2020/2021. The number of visitors have reached 3.830 people, which makes an average of 23 attendees per visit. The final term of the school year (April to June) has been the busiest by far.

As usual since the beginning of the educational activities in Sotavento, most of the visitors have come from the region of Galicia, particularly from the provinces of A Coruña and Lugo.

Regarding the type of groups, primary schools and high schools are the most numerous. Together they have reached the 80% of the visitors during this school year, overtaking the technical visits that used to be more frequent in the previous years.

Last but not least, a Permanent Orienteering Track has been set up in collaboration with the village of Xermade, where the wind farm is located, to enhance the touristic appeal of the area during the summer. Besides, during the month of August 2021 a prize will be given to all participants that can complete any of the various routes available within a certain time limit.