Patricio Blanco Villanustra is a key man for WhisperPower in Southern Europe where he serves as area sales manager for this important region.
He spent the first three months on a boat sailing the Med, supporting the owner as a crew member. Patricio then started work for Mastervolt Iberica in December 2001 as a generator specialist, leveraging on eight years of experience gained in Argentina working for the company Trimer.
“A large number of yachts were being built in Spain in the period from 2002 to 2008,” Patricio recalls. “The vast majority had airco systems onboard so needed a generator installed. Whisper gensets, still Mastervolt-branded at the time, became very popular in Spain with the likes of Menorquin, Rodman, Starfischer and Phaeton all installing our equipment”
Patricio Blanco Villanustra - WhisperPower, Sales Manager Southern Europe
Many years of experience
In 2004 Mastervolt’s distribution was transferred to the leading Raymarine importer Video Acustic, located in Gandia. Patricio and his family moved to the area and he became the Mastervolt product manager. “From this time on I learned a lot more about electrical systems,” he says. “I began making system drawings by AutoCAD and selling complete power systems. This, in turn, enabled me to understand more about the systems side of the business and mobile applications.”
In 2007 Patricio joined Webasto Iberica as the company’s airco specialist but in 2010 was asked by Roel ter Heide to join WhisperPower.
“Today we have become the leading brand in these parts of the world and this is the best period of my professional life to date. We are focusing on the right things and reaping the rewards of the time invested. Working in a direct sense with our customers, we have appointed Acastimar as our marine distributor to leave me time to work on projects and industrial markets"
Patricio Blanco Villanustra - WhisperPower, Sales Manager Southern Europe
“WhisperPower has a superior portfolio, is increasingly well known and has an excellent product quality. I am also supporting our distribution partners in France and Italy so they can benefit from my 20 years of experience. And since the beginning of 2022 I have a new assistant, Martin Rodrigues Campos, located in Vigo, which is making our presence even stronger”
“Today we have become the leading brand in these parts of the world”
Seven science labs
A fine example of the type of exciting projects seen in Southern Europe is the major system for professional marine application purposes being fitted on the 110-metre ocean research vessel Falkor. Scientists from the National Geographic Society will have no less than seven laboratories at their disposal and WhisperPower has designed two large UPS of 90 kWh to back up the computer systems in case the main generators fail.
Four systems are currently being installed, each containing 9 x Supreme Pro 24 V/100 A battery chargers / power supplies, 6 x 24 VDC – kW inverters configured for 30 KVA three phase 400 VAC/60 Hz, with 2 x 22 kW WhisperPower Lithium Power Plus batteries to secure a minimum of one hour’s operation without the central generators running. There is full redundancy between the battery banks, battery chargers and inverters, while the load connected to the computer system is 60 Kw in total.
Thor of Valhalla
Another innovative system is in preparation for the sea research vessel Thor of Valhalla, currently in Spain for a complete conversion. The client was looking for an OctoPower system to operate the airco systems and optimally reduce the vessel’s CO2 footprint. The system proposed by WhisperPower comprises 3 x AC PowerCube 14 kW inverters with two super compact and silent Piccolo DC generators providing 26 kW of charge power (DC PowerCubes 24 V/150 A) and 4 x 16 6 kW lithium battery banks.
Mobile projects
Away from the water, WhisperPower has also become the main brand in Spain for manufacturers of specialised vehicles. TECNOVE SL, a company with more than 30 years of experience in manufacturing mobile facilities for television, radio, security and healthcare, has been a customer for years. Patricio and his team recently designed systems for vehicles being used as a mobile bank. Each consists of 2 x 11.1 kWh lithium battery banks + 2 Elite GV 2 DC generators with 1 DC Power Cube and a 7 kW AC PowerCube inverter. The vehicle roofs feature 1240 Wp solar panels with Suntrack voltage controllers, giving eight hours of zero emission operation before a generator is required. WhisperCare was added as the window of control for the fleet manager.
