France's Qair breaks cover with big Spanish floating wind plans
French group's plans include a wind farm in the Canaries, seen as an outlier region for Spanish offshore wind ambitions
French developer Qair Renewables has submitted plans for deploying almost 1.7GW of floating wind capacity in Spain through two more commercial-scale projects and a proposed 30MW demonstrator.
The projects were filed for preliminary evaluation by Spain’s environment ministry (MITECO), using a mechanism offered as a means of facilitating environmental permitting and helping to de-risk investments.
The recent filing shows that one of the proposed projects, called Norfeu, would deploy over 1GW of capacity off the coast of Girona, Catalonia.
A second project, called Breixo, describes 648MW of capacity in the Lugo region of Galicia.
Qair, which is among the pioneers of floating wind in its home French market via the EolMed project, also submitted plans for a 30MW demonstrator project in partnership with IREC, an energy research foundation for the Catalonia region, and located off Girona.
Spain's climate and energy policies include a target of deploying 3GW of offshore wind by 2030.
The steeply sloping shelf around the Spanish coast means this is in practice an ambition for floating wind.
Some 50 offshore wind projects have been submitted for assessment under the consultation mechanism that MITECO says can facilitate the passage of environmental impact assessments.
Qair had earlier requested MITECO's evaluation of for the proposed 594MW Roleira offshore wind farms off Galicia, and the Tamaragua array off the island of Gran Canaria.
Such commercial-scale offshore wind projects are being developed for eventual participation in Spain’s first offshore wind tender, which is expected to take place next year.
A decree creating a regulatory framework for offshore wind auctions was issued in February and approved at executive level in September.
The Spanish government is taking longer than some developers had hoped to flesh out terms and conditions for a first tender with key aspects such as volumes, timelines, remunerative, bidding criteria and pre-qualification procedures.
MITECO estimates that it will take 42-60 months from awarding seabed rights in an inaugural offshore wind tender to reach the point of commercial operation on a first Spanish offshore wind farm.
Attractive conditions for offshore wind and standout energy requirements means the Canary Islands are seen as a potential focus for a first tender.
The Spanish offshore wind association (AEE), has urged the Spanish government to use the Canaries as an attractive prime mover to kick off the tendering process.