On January 24, the Government could approve the plan for the Planning of the Maritime Space (POEM), according to Itziar Martín Partida, deputy director general for the Protection of the Sea of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (Miteco) in a conference organized by the Col·legi d'Enginyers Industrials de Catalunya. With the approval of said document, which defines in which places offshore wind farms can be implemented, the ban would be opened for the 15 offshore wind projects submitted for public consultation on the Spanish coasts (a phase prior to the environmental impact study). One of the proposed areas is Cap de Creus, the Gulf of Roses and the Bay of Pals, where up to six companies have shown interest in installing offshore wind farms.
2023 has another piece of good news in store for this renewable, of which there is still not a single commercial kilowatt installed in mainland Spain: as of January 31, it will be possible to start requesting specific aid for its implementation. In total, the Miteco Renmarinas Demos Program will allocate 240 million euros to research and development programs in the field of marine renewable energies (offshore wind, floating photovoltaic panels, wave energy, current energy, etc.).
"Now is the ideal time for the deployment of offshore wind power in Spain," said Juan Ramon Ayuso, head of the Department of Wind Power and Sea Energy of the Institute for the Diversification and Saving of Energy of Spain (IDAE), at the conference Col·legi d'Enginyers Industrials de Catalunya. Why is it the right time? Ayuso argues against the increasing competitiveness of floating wind turbines (the only viable ones in Spanish continental waters); the need to generate more energy from renewable sources; the industrial opportunity that its development entails and, finally, “the existence of new techniques that manage to minimize potential environmental impacts”.
In December 2021, the Government approved a roadmap in which the objective is to install 1 to 3 GW of floating offshore wind power in Spain by the year 2030 (there are 57 GW installed worldwide). However, the Executive itself paralyzed the implementation of these projects until the approval of the current POEM in order to minimize damage to aquatic ecosystems and make the different uses of the marine environment compatible.
From a technological point of view, the main reason behind the Spanish delay in offshore wind power is the difficulties in implementing fixed-foundation wind turbines, more technologically advanced than floating ones, due to the characteristics of the coast, which reaches great depths in just a few meters. .
In the White Paper on the Offshore Wind Industry, the Wind Energy Business Association (AEE) highlights the strong industrial fabric around this renewable energy, as well as the great potential that port infrastructures could have as logistics hubs or the opportunity to diversify their activity that the construction of structures and vessels to support offshore wind farms would entail for the naval industry. In its white paper, the AEE estimates that the economic impact of offshore wind during the period 2025-2050 would be equivalent to 49,607 million euros of GDP and would mean a gradual increase in employment of up to 17,438 jobs per year for 2045-2050.
