- Spain wants to deploy 1-3GW of floating wind capacity.
- The Country’s coastal waters are too deep for the conventional bottom-fixed offshore turbines.
- Spain says it will invest €200m in research.
Spain’s Ministry of Energy and Environment has announced plans to install floating wind turbines with the capacity to generate between 1 and 3 GW by 2030 off its coasts. Spain has one of the largest onshore wind fleets globally, but its coasts are too deep to allow for the installation of larger turbines that can utilise the greater wind speeds and extra space, as is the case in Britain and other places.
Spain would provide up to €200 million to aid in research and development for floating wind turbines given the higher construction costs compared to fixed wind turbines that are limited to shallower waters. The ministry also added that it would need to invest €500 million to €1 billion on port infrastructure to support these projects.
Iberdrola stated recently that it would invest €1 billion on a floating wind farm in Spain if it secures support from Europe’s coronavirus recovery fund. Spanish group Repsol has already partnered with Portuguese developer EDP to install 25MW of floating turbines off Portugal’s Atlantic coast.
The European Union currently has about 12GW of bottom-fixed offshore wind capacity with plans to increase this to at least 60GW by 2030 and 300 GW by 2050. In addition, the EU also plans to deploy 40GW of floating wind, solar and other technologies dependent on tidal power by 2050.