The general manager of the Basque energy cluster has assured that for Basque companies “offshore (maritime) offers more opportunities than onshore (onshore mills), which is a more mature market”.
The Spanish offshore wind energy has asked the government of Pedro Sánchez urgently regulate offshore wind energy and call the first auction in the first quarter of 2023, because it believes that Spain can become an international leader in this energy.
Today and tomorrow in Barakaldo, the Wind Energy Association (AEE) celebrates the I Congress of this sector, in which 420 attendees from ten countries analyze the potential of this technology.
According to the president of AEE, Juan Diego Díaz, and the general manager, Juan Virgilio Márquez, Spain already has two bases for this energy: “our factories have been exporting wind components to the wind farms in Northern Europe for many years, and we are the first developer of prototypes of floating technology (mills not anchored to the bottom) in the world”.
The third “leg” is missing, the commercial offshore wind market, which does not exist in Spain, that is, it is not yet planned or where the farms should be installed. There is a roadmap approved by the government of Spain a year ago that sets an installed offshore wind capacity of up to 3 gigawatts (GW) as a target for 2030.
Díaz explained that the industry has been urging the Spanish government to fulfill this promise of regulation, including marine space planning, before the end of the year. After the settlement, the next step would come: the convening, as planned in the first quarter of next year, first wind energy auction Marine.
For the auction to succeed, they should be awarded at the same time, according to the sector construction law (of the offshore wind farm) and from connection (to the electricity grid on land)in addition to assigning the reward system have guarantees to amortize the investment.
The auction “will be the turning point in which investments and alliances are formalized.” Will be large investments that will benefit several industries, because the construction of these plants involves “many tons of steel, a lot of activity in shipyards and ports”.
Globally, 2021 has broken the record for offshore wind energy installation: 21,222 MW of offshore wind energy was installed last year, a 59% increase from 2020. The countries with the most installed marine wind energy are China, the UK, Denmark and Vietnam.
In the same presentation, José Ignacio Hormaeche, general manager of the host Cluster Vasco de Energía, noted that for Basque companies “offshore (maritime) offers an opportunity, more than onshore (mills on land), which is a more mature market”.
Hormaeche added that for the Basque Country, where the seabed is very deep so that windmills cannot be anchored, floating platform wind power is a challenge and a field in which Basque companies have been prototyping for years.
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Source: EITB
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
