Spain is out offshore wind revolution It was released in other countries. While the United States, United Kingdom or Germany are installing wind power giants in the waters, our country is lagging behind for an orographic reason: territorial waters are too deep, making it difficult to install wind turbines anchored to the seafloor. Accelerated technological developments for the development of floating offshore wind, which makes it possible to overcome the problem of depth, give Spain the opportunity to participate in the boom.
In recent years, major energy companies have been designing projects to set up wind farms on the Spanish coast. iberdrolaOne of the world leaders in offshore wind energy, it has floating projects with a combined capacity of more than 1,200 megawatts (MW) with planned locations in the Canary Islands and Galicia.
Bluefloat Energy and Sener They have around 2,000 MW of projects in various locations, including a giant 1,200 MW off the coast of Galicia. They also designed floating wind installations. EDP Renewables and Engie, ACS, Greenalia, Enerocean… In total, the projects in the portfolio exceed 3,000 MW of power and are distributed to locations off the coast of Galicia, Asturias, the Basque Country, Catalonia, Andalusia or the Canary Islands.
repsol Y Naturgy this week confirmed their intention to launch themselves in the race to control offshore wind power in Spain, and it has done so by forging alliances with global giants to strengthen their expansion possibilities. Repsol will join hands with Danish company Ørsted, the world leader in offshore wind energy, to set up parks in national waters, and Naturgy will join forces with Norwegian Equinor to seek distribution opportunities in the Spanish market.
Currently, the boom in offshore wind power in Spain is a promise and an ambitious plan that has not been effectively implemented. The government approved last December Roadmap for the Development of Offshore Wind and Marine Energy in Spain, Country strategy to promote the deployment of new renewable energy sources in marine waters by 2030. Between 1,000 and 3,000 MW of floating offshore wind and energies that are just beginning 60 MW from the sea, such as the use of waves or tides.
According to Dev Ørsted, Spain’s targets for the next ten years are “very cautious and conservative”. “We are confident that there is potential for much more,” Peter Obling, director of the Danish group’s European Markets, told the specialist agency Montel. The government opposes that the goal of achieving up to 3,000 MW of floating wind power means that 40% of all planned development of such technology by the European Commission by 2030 will be concentrated in Spanish waters.
First auction in 2023
Now is the time to lay the foundations to enable expansion. Ministry of Ecological Transition, led by Teresa Ribera, Vice President public consultation of the new regulatory framework in May For the development of offshore wind energy in Spain and this should allow the management of offshore uses to avoid undesirable environmental impacts. The government plans to keep First auction for offshore wind floating early 2023As confirmed this week by Sara Aagesen, Secretary of State for Energy.
The Roadmap also sets the goal of empowering Spain as a pole of innovation for the design and testing of new technologies and includes its initial allocation. 200 million Euro aid to R&D until 2023 It is collected from European funds of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan.
Spain is already strength in the development of floating solutions for offshore wind farms: Seven out of 27 identified globally are Hispanic. It is also the European country with the most R&D facilities for offshore floating wind power and other energies, such as the Canary Islands Ocean Platform (PLOCAN) and the Vizcaya Marine Energy Platform (BiMEP) or Experimental Zone. marine energy at Punta Langosteira (La Coruña), the world’s second test bench for wave energy.
The offshore wind energy race is also a race for efficiency and profitability. According to studies by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the continental wind energy association Wind Europe, floating wind power will accelerate its technological maturation in the coming years and reduce operating costs to increase competitiveness. Small scale floating wind demonstration projects currently have a lifetime generation cost (LCOE) of between €180 and €200 per megawatt hour (MWh), the first commercial parks are expected to fall to €80 to €100 per MWh by 2025 and 40 by 2030. further reduce from € 60 to € 60.