Ocean Winds forges partnership for Portuguese floating tender

Ocean Winds, the 50-50 joint venture by EDP Renewables and Engie, has agreed to partner Martifer Renewables & Energy, a unit created by Portugal’s Martifer industrial group to jointly bid to build floating wind off Portugal.

The new partnership was announced in a week when the Portuguese government relaunched a national energy and climate plan (NECP) which sticks to offshore wind targets and maintains plans for a first offshore wind tender in 2024, after earlier hints to the contrary.

In the revised NCEP, submitted for public consultation on Monday, the previous government's objective of installing 2GW of wind capacity by 2030 was maintained.

Ocean Winds and Martifer said their strategic partnership is geared toward jointly participation in Portugal's first tender for offshore wind farms, still expected to launch before the end of this year.

Ocean Winds has already played a leading role in developing the WindFloat Atlantic floating offshore wind farm in Portugal, in partnership with Principle Power and Repsol.

The Martifer group builds metallic structures, including for the naval sector

The new partners said they aim to develop “cutting-edge floating offshore wind farms” and to contribute “significantly” to Portugal's renewable energy targets of 2GW by 2030.

The Portuguese plan represents the country’s alignment with the national energy and climate plans that all European Union member starts are obliged to produce.

"Portugal is at a unique position of accelerating the development of the proven offshore wind technology off its coasts. We are thrilled to join forces with Martifer Renewables & Energy for the first historic tender, that should soon be announced,” said José Pinheiro, Country Manager South Europe for Ocean Winds.

Ocean Winds already uses an operations and maintenance base in the port of Viana do Castelo for its WindFloat Atlantic project.

Pinheiro said Ocean Winds intends to combine its own local and international experience in offshore wind with Martifer’s industrial capabilities and capacity “to enable the partnership to deliver efficient, reliable and sustainable offshore wind projects, reinforcing Portugal’s leading position in renewable energy.”

The offshore wind industry is still waiting for Portugal to provide details of the final criteria for the planned offshore wind tender.

But Ocean Winds and Martifer made it clear in their announcement today (Wednesday) that they are already preparing “comprehensive proposals, including with key national suppliers and infrastructures”.

Green light

Questioned about the decision to maintain this target, she told reporters on Monday: "At this moment it seems to us that 2GW is a plausible target due to the great investment interest in Portugal. Offshore wind is still an expensive technology, as it is still in its infancy, but there is a lot of international investment that can help with this project.

"Subsequently, and depending on the maturity of the procedures and projects to be implemented, new auctions may be held in a phased manner and new capacities up to 10 GW may be allocated."

After presenting the new NECP, Carvalho reportedly said the tender might offer "two projects of 1GW each" but she did not provide further details on such a format.