Spain approves offshore wind and marine energy roadmap

Spain’s Council of Ministers, at the proposal of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, has approved the Roadmap for the Development of Offshore Wind and Marine Energy.

The Roadmap contains 20 lines of action with the aim of reaching between 1 GW and 3 GW of floating offshore wind power capacity by 2030 – up to 40 per cent of the EU target – and up to 60 MW of other pre-commercial marine energies such as waves or tidal energy.

Spain will also spend at least €200 million by 2023 on the advancement and development of offshore renewable energy technologies as the country tries to position itself as the leader in the field of research and development.

Spain is the European state with the most R&D facilities for floating wind and other marine energies, such as the Canary Islands Oceanic Platform (PLOCAN) and the Vizcaya Marine Energy Platform (BiMEP) or the Punta Langosteira Experimental Marine Energy Exploitation Zone (A Coruña), the second testbed in the world for wave energy, the government said.

The port infrastructure will also be evaluated under the Roadmap, and between €500 million and €1 billion is expected to be invested to cover the new logistics needs.

In addition to the €200 million for R&D, there are numerous funding programmes, both European and national which will facilitate the implementation of the Roadmap, the government said.

Among the latter, the instruments managed by the Center for Industrial Technological Development (CDTI) and the Institute for the Diversification and Saving of Energy (IDAE) stand out, and others may be incorporated, such as the issuance of green bonds.

The Roadmap takes advantage of the Sectoral Agenda of the Wind Industry, which is part of the Industrial Policy Strategy of Spain 2030 and is included in Component 7 of the PRTR, dedicated to the deployment and integration of renewable energies.

There are currently seven floating wind projects in different stages of development offshore Spain, the government said.

Most notably, Spain’s energy giant Iberdrola is planning to invest over €1 billion to develop a 300 MW floating wind farm.

The project is expected to spearhead the development of up to 2,000 MW of floating offshore wind projects identified by Iberdrola off the coasts of Galicia, Andalusia, and the Canary Islands.

The Madrid-based BlueFloat Energy is developing a 1 GW floating wind farm near the Gulf of Roses in Catalonia. The wind farm could be operational as early as 2026, the developer said.

Greenalia is also planning on building up to five floating wind farms off Gran Canaria.

The Dunas, Mojo, Cardon, and Guanche wind farms are independent projects, each expected to have 50 MW of capacity, located offshore the Gran Canarian South-East coast.

The fifth project, the 50 MW Gofio, is described as the most advanced one and potentially the country’s first operating floating wind farm.