The central government has stopped the creation of a 50 megawatt power plant at sea in San Bartolomé de Tirajana due to the impact it would have on fishing and the currents that feed the natural cycle of the Maspalomas Dunes. Generate clean and renewable electrical energy and inject it into the high-voltage electrical grid, that was the objective of the request for an administrative concession for the construction of an offshore wind farm in waters assigned to the service area off the southern coast of Gran Canaria that has been carried out by the company ABEI Energy. A project led by a company whose headquarters in Spain are in Madrid (it also has others in Córdoba), but which also has offices in the United Kingdom, Portugal, France, Germany, Italy, Brazil and Mexico.
ABEI Energy, with more than 15 years of experience in the sector, is an independent energy producer that fully manages electricity generation projects from renewable sources. Its objective was to consolidate itself in the Canary Islands. Among its latest international projects are the Collepaso photovoltaic plant, in Italy; and two wind farms in Peru: Cupisnique and Talara. As things in Tirajana do not add up, ABEY Energy has asked to build a 600 megawatt park in the province of Pontevedra, according to the Ministry for the Ecological Transition portal. With this, nine projects are presented for the five polygons that the future maritime space management plans (POEM) consider suitable in the community for offshore wind. Together they add up to 5.805 MW, well above the 1.000 to 3.000 planned by the Ecological Transition for 2030 throughout Spain.
Naturgy and the Norwegian Equinor announced in 2022 that they are working on the development of the Floating Offshore Wind Canarias (Fowca) project, with which they want to opt for the installation of more than 200 MW of floating offshore wind in the maritime space of eastern Gran Canaria. As reported by Naturgy, this project, which would be connected to the Barranco de Tirajana substation of Red Eléctrica Española, will be developed with semi-submersible floating platform technology that, among other advantages, allows the installation of structures furthest from the coast.
This offshore wind farm would reduce CO2 emissions equivalent to 350.000 cars per year. Furthermore, according to the study commissioned from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, it is estimated that the project could generate more than 2.500 jobs in all its phases, including direct, indirect and induced jobs. Equinor and Naturgy sealed an agreement to work together on the analysis of opportunities for the development of offshore wind power in Spain. Both companies intend to take advantage of their complementary capabilities to develop this technology, which has great potential in Canarian waters. In this alliance, the Spanish energy company will contribute its experience in the development of onshore wind and the Norwegian company will contribute with its proven capabilities in offshore floating technology.
