Offshore staff
MADRID, Spain – The IberBlue Wind joint venture has committed to develop two floating offshore wind projects on the maritime border between northwest Spain and northern Portugal, with a combined capacity of up to 1.96 GW.
Creoula and Juan Sebastián Elcano will comprise about 109 turbines across a 530-sq-km area off the coasts of Baixo Miño in Pontevedra and Viana do Castelo. The developments are named after two historic training ships in the Spanish and Portuguese navies.
Total construction and maintenance costs could exceed Eur4 billion ($4.369 billion). The partners estimate that the cost of the joint development could be 32% lower than if developed separately, with consequent reductions in energy prices for both countries, which operate within the Iberian Electricity Market – MIBEL.
IberBlue is a consortium between Simply Blue Group, Proes Consultores, the engineering division of the Grupo Amper, and FF New Energy Venture, a developer of renewable projects.
Juan Sebastián Elcano will feature 29 wind turbines, each with a capacity of 18 MW. All will be installed on floating platforms anchored to the seafloor, extending from As Mariñas to A Guarda, 20-35 km offshore.
The location is within delimitations recently drawn up under the Spanish government’s Maritime Space Management Plans (POEM), which include the North Atlantic demarcation NOR-1. The project will draw on the services of the local Galician industry.
Creoula will have 80x 18-MW turbines of 18 MW, situated 20-40 km from the shore.
