The Spanish multinational Naturgy and the Norwegian Equinor have agreed this Wednesday to develop a project that can participate in the first offshore wind auction in Spain, which will take place in the Canary Islands.
In a statement, Naturgy has stated that both companies will jointly explore the development of offshore wind energy in Spain, so that Naturgy will contribute its experience in onshore wind and the Norwegian company its proven capabilities in technology and development of floating offshore wind.
The agreement was sealed at the Wind Europe Congress held this week in Bilbao, while the "Roadmap for offshore wind and energy at sea" approved by the Government foresees the development of up to 3 GW of offshore wind power by 2030.
The general director of Renewables, New Businesses and Innovation of Naturgy, Jorge Barredo, has assured that "the development of floating wind opens a very relevant window of opportunity to Spain, since it allows to take advantage of locations further away from the coast, with excellent wind resources, and act as a driver of the economy through key sectors such as naval or civil".
For his part, the senior vice president of Business Development of Equinor in Renewables, Jens Økland, has described it as "good news to see the deployment of offshore wind energy in Spain." In addition, Naturgy continues to bet on renewables and plans to reach a total of 14 GW of installed renewable power in 2025, compared to the current 5.2 GW.
However, it should be noted that the plan for the management of the maritime space of the Canary demarcation (POEM) has not yet been made official, despite having the published draft since 2020 that anticipates where offshore wind energy would be framed in the islands. This translates into the fact that there is still no regulation governing the sector.