The promoters of the Tramuntana offshore wind farm, one of the six projects that have applied to install their windmills on the 250 square kilometer plot that the government has reserved on the Catalan coast for this type of energy, consider that "by criteria technical and environmental" the line that evacuates the energy produced by the wind turbines from the sea to land must be completely buried.
The idea with which they are working is a first section of 24 kilometers of line under the sea and another 20 kilometers underground. The engineer of the Sener company, one of the two firms working on this project, Sergi Ametller, pointed out today that although the cost of "making it underground is five times higher than the air", they rule out that the cables arrive by air at the station from Santa Llogaia d'Àlguema, from where the energy would be distributed wherever it is required.
The government has not yet set the legislative framework to build offshore wind farms (it is expected to be ready by mid-year) nor the technical criteria for the auction, which would take place at the end of 2023.
The first commercial wind turbine in the area would not be seen before the year 2030. Five years before, the experimental park promoted by the Generalitat would see the light of day, in which the company that promotes Parc Tramuntana would also be interested in participating.
At the moment, the government has only given the green light to the map that determines where in Spain there may be offshore wind farms and where not, known as the Maritime Space Management Plans (POEM). In Catalonia there is only the tablet in front of the Gulf of Roses.
Ametller points out that "now is the time to set these technical requirements; it is time for the Generalitat and the mayors to ask the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (Miteco) the requirement to make the evacuation line underground," he said. They consider that it is the option with the least impact.
The Ministry will have the last word, but the French precedent in which -according to Ametller- "all offshore wind projects are evacuated underground", make them optimistic. Otherwise, his project would start with a certain disadvantage in the auction. The cost of Parc Tramuntana oscillates between 1,500 and 2,000 million euros (between 3 and 4 million euros per megawatt).
The Tramuntana project initially contemplates a power of 500 megawatts with 33 turbines with a height of 261 meters from sea level and 118 meters of blades. Ametller points out that it would produce 45% of the electricity consumed in the province of Girona.
It would be located at a distance of between 12 and 24 kilometers from the coast and would require the construction of a substation of about 100 square meters between the camping area of Sant Pere Pescador and l'Armentera. The promoters are looking for the best possible location so that the noise impact is minimal on the territory.
Ametller, in an informative meeting today with the media in Girona, has indicated that "if the Empordà does not win the project it will not be done" and that "it will be difficult for it to move forward if there is no consensus from the administrations".
The promoters recall that Spain "is in the tail" in renewables and point out that countries such as Portugal, Scotland, the Netherlands, Norway or France already have floating marine energy projects underway.
He considers that "offshore wind is part of the solution" to achieve the commitment set in Catalonia in the year 2050 in terms of renewables. Otherwise, he points out that the only two alternatives are to extend the life of the nuclear power plants or export energy from France and Aragon, a fact that he says would mean the construction of more Very High Voltage (MAT) lines.
