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Equinor eyes Canary Island project

4C Offshore | Tom Russell
By: Tom Russell 04/06/2019 4C Offshore
The Canary Islands' Minister of Economy, Industry, Trade and Knowledge at work, Pedro Ortega, has sent a letter to the State reiterating its request to create an interministerial working group to support establishing offshore wind areas in the Canary Islands and facilitate the implementation of new projects. It follows a request from Norwegian petroleum and wind energy company Equinor to reserve a space off the coast for floating wind development. It is anticipated that Equinor could invest over EUR 860 million in the project, which is to be located in the Canary Islands Special Zone (ZEC), over the next few years

Ortega also stated that there have also been requests from other companies interested in using the Canary Islands as a test bank. The floating marine park projected by Equinor includes an installed capacity of 200 MW, equivalent to one third of the total renewable power installed on the islands.

Pedro Ortega stated that Equinor's plan "is an important support for the energy policy that we have developed from the Government of the Canary Islands in order to advance to consolidate a more sustainable model and position the Canary Islands as a spearhead in the development of wind technology offshore, taking advantage of the endogenous advantages of the Archipelago and the interest that companies in the sector have in investing in new projects."

Installation of Equinor's project could take place in 2024 and could generate between 120 and 200 jobs during the 20 year life of the park, in addition to temporary and limited jobs that would involve the prior phase of processing and construction. However, this is all subject to a proper framework being put in place to support projects.


A spokesperson from Equinor commented: "We see Spain and the Canary region as an interesting country with a technological and industrial capability for supporting offshore wind and floating offshore wind. We have presented our project ideas to local and central authorities in Spain, but the framework to develop a project is currently not in place. We are excited that there is an ongoing process to establish a framework for offshore wind for the Canary region."


Minister Ortega stated that it is necessary to determine offshore wind areas in the Canary Islands in which the exploitation and use of the wind resource should be centralised without affecting the development of other complementary marine activities - as soon as possible. The Government of the Canary Islands has repeatedly requested the State to define an adequate framework to facilitate the implementation of new projects.


The Government of the Canary Islands has submitted to the State a preliminary study that includes the three preliminary areas in the south-east of Gran Canaria, Tenerife and west of Fuerteventura, which meet the ideal conditions of wind, depth, topography and proximity to the development of offshore wind energy. It is expected that a  working group will be established to to evaluate them in detail before acting.

Last week, 4C Offshore reported that Spanish marine energy company EnerOcean S.L. has launched its 1:6 scaled prototype of its integrated wind turbine platform at a shipyard in the Canary Islands. The floating platform is currently in the water at the ASTICAN shipyard dock where it went through some initial testing.

The
W2Power project aims to demonstrate the fully-integrated offshore wind floating platform. W2Power features a semi-submersible floating foundation platform, with two integrated wind turbines and a platform with a ladder for servicing. The prototype will be installed at the PLOCAN site 30km off the coast of the Canary Islands when a weather window opens up.

For more information on the offshore wind market,
click here. Alternatively, you can view projects worldwide on 4C Offshore's interactive map.

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