The recently published Marine Space Management Plan (POEM) 2022-2027 by the central government includes an area of high potential for offshore wind in Lanzarote that goes from Jameos del Agua to Arrecife, with sections only 1.6 kilometers from the coast.
This map has motivated many opposing voices from citizens, environmentalists and political parties in the last week. However, if they are installed, it will take at least six years, but it could be many more. This report analyzes the reasons.
In addition to the aforementioned map, the central government's POEM includes others, which order all the activities that can be carried out in the maritime space. Among them, there is one that defines the areas of priority use for the protection of biodiversity, which in Lanzarote includes practically the entire island.
Will be installed in Gran Canaria until 2027
That is precisely why the three administrations involved, the central government, which has the powers to approve offshore wind infrastructures, the Canary Islands government, which has the powers to define how to carry out the ecological transition in the archipelago, and the Cabildo of Lanzarote, which defines land uses and defends that the vast majority of the coast already has other priority uses, have agreed that during the present POEM, only offshore wind infrastructure will be authorized in the Canary Islands on the island of Gran Canaria, because it is the only one that has the capacity to store the energy produced, thanks to the Salto de Chira hydroelectric plant.
The Ministry for Ecological Transition of the Government of the Canary Islands has confirmed to Ekonomus that during the present POEM, windmills will only be placed in the sea next to Gran Canaria. The areas of high potential "have also been defined in other islands due to European Union imperatives", they explain. "What happens next will depend on the data obtained from those installed in Gran Canaria and the next POEM, but above all on the new Energy Transition Plan and its revisions."
Then Tenerife
The Cabildo of Lanzarote has explained that the most likely scenario is that during the next POEM, for the years 2028-2033, wind development in the Canary Islands will be concentrated on the island of Tenerife. Firstly, because as in Gran Canaria, the area of high potential for offshore wind and the area for the protection of diversity do not overlap, and secondly, because the geography of the island also allows the construction of infrastructures on land for the storage of renewable energy.
However, the Cabildo of Lanzarote is aware of the need to develop renewable energies on the island: "you cannot sell tourists the benefits of your landscape, your environment, your protected natural spaces, if a large part of the electricity production is through fossil fuels, which produce greenhouse gases and aggravate climate change," explains González.
The Energy Councilor of the Cabildo has reiterated that in the opinion of the Island Institution, the only area of the island where offshore wind would fit is in front of the port of Los Mármoles in Arrecife, as it is the most industrialized area.