The Spanish company BlueFloat Energy and Sener’s joint venture announced plans to build one of the first floating offshore wind farms in Andalusia, Spain. The planned installed capacity of the project is 300 MW, and it is possible to provide power for green hydrogen production. The floating wind farm called MardeÁgata will be located in the Mediterranean Sea, close to the east coast of Almeria, between the cities of Nijar and Caponelas.

MardeÁgata floating wind farm

The wind farm will include 20 floating offshore wind turbines, each with an output of 15 megawatts. The planned connection point for the wind farm at the 400kV "Litoral" substation in Carboneras is located 15 kilometers away from Cape Capo de Gata, and is less than 10 kilometers away from the wind farm. Therefore, the project does not include the development of offshore substations.

The site selection of the project is based on the analysis of technical and environmental conditions: wind resources, availability of power connections, environmental protection zones and species, fishing, depth, seabed topography, waves, according to news released by BlueFloatEnergy and Sener on October 26 Draft, maritime traffic, air navigation and easements of the Ministry of Defense. The project intends to meet part of the electricity demand of the green hydrogen plant proposed by Caldererías Indálicas. The plant will be developed in two phases and will produce 20 tons of green hydrogen per day. In return, the MardeÁgata project will use the technical capabilities and facilities of Caldererías Indálicas to manufacture partial floating structures locally. According to project partners, this will also trigger upgrades and capacity building of local contractors to support asset construction, operation and maintenance. The wind farm itself has a capacity of 300 MW, which can provide enough clean electricity to meet 28% of the current electricity consumption in Almeria, and it can avoid 12 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions during its 30-year period.

The project will create 3,750 direct and 3,750 indirect jobs during the construction and decommissioning phases, of which at least 55% will be created in Andalusia. Sener and BlueFloatEnergy said that during the operation and maintenance phase, about 120 jobs will be created each year, of which 60 are direct jobs. Keywords: engineering news, engineering construction

The developer stated that in terms of the economy, the impact on the country’s GDP is estimated at 630 million euros, accounting for 0.28% of Andalusia’s GDP. This is not the first floating wind power project proposed by the joint venture in Spain, because BlueFloat and Sener also proposed to build a 1 GW floating wind power project near the coast of the Empordá region near Rose Bay, called ParcTramuntana in Catalonia. Editor/Xing Wentao