Renewable energies are not only here to stay, but they have become one of the most important means to achieve the decarbonization objectives that countries and companies have set for 2030 and 2050. Wind and solar energy (especially with the rise of the panels due to China bringing down the price), have become the champions of renewables, but we must not ignore initiatives such as the green hydrogen corridor.
Within this boom in renewables, offshore energy is postulated as one of the most powerful sources, and on a fantastic map we can see what the installation plans are for something very specific: offshore wind farms.
The advantages of the sea. Within renewables, location is key, and there the sea is proving to be an ideal territory for certain types of renewables. Offshore energy is energy that is generated in the sea. Mainly, these are offshore wind farms, but there may be other types of installations. Why wind? Because they are far from towns (they do not affect the landscape so much nor do the noise bother the neighbors) and because the force of the wind is stronger and more consistent than on land. Disadvantages? There are also some, but the main one is that it is much more expensive than installing it on land.
The state of offshore in Europe. Countries like China – especially – or the United States, are deploying many terrestrial and marine wind energy installations. Some are truly monstrous. It is logical if we have the kilometers of coastline that both countries have, but it not only depends on the territory, but also on the investment. The European Commissionin his Communication COM/2023/668detected that there is a need to accelerate investment in offshore wind energy, as well as in other ocean energies (for example, floating solar panels or offshore hydrogen production).
Currently, the total installed capacity of offshore wind energy in the European Union stands at 16.3 GW and new installations are expected to increase by around 12 GW annually to meet the 2030 decarbonization objectives. For comparison, in 2022 there were 1.2 GW of offshore wind energy installed in Europe, ten times less.
Projects. Within this installed offshore wind power, the largest projects are in the Nordic areas. The Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Belgium are the countries that have the upper hand due to the conditions of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. They are areas that have constant and strong gusts of wind, but they are not turbulent winds, which is why they appear to be optimal territories for installation.
Map created by EOM
And there are many, many parks proposed. A great way to visualize offshore wind farms projected in the European seas it is the map elaborated for The World Order that we left just above these lines. In it, we can see what we were mentioning: the bulk of them are in the north, with parks planned with a minimum of 5,000 MW and many with 2,000 MW. The 26 parks under construction are also shown.
The case of Spain. In Spain we can see that there are several projects planned with a power of between 2 MW and 2,000 MW on the Galician coast, the Catalan coast, in the southern part of the country and in the Canary Islands.
The country is one of the powers in wind energy (renewable, in general) but thanks to the base installed on land, not in marine territory, and the reasons given for not promoting this type of parks is that the Spanish sea floor It can reach 1,000 meters deep – too much – and the economic investment would be stratospheric. There are larger projects planned on the Portuguese coast. Iberdrola, for example, comment that these wind farms are located in waters with a depth of up to 60 meters.
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We have to keep working. Beyond the specific case of Spain with offshore wind, the European Commission has identified six areas in which work must be done to accelerate the deployment of offshore capacity. They are the following:
- Strengthening network infrastructure and regional cooperation.
- Acceleration of permits to deploy infrastructure.
- Guarantee correct maritime spatial planning.
- Investigate ways to strengthen the resilience of marine infrastructure.
- Support research and innovation to support marine renewable energy.
- Develop more optimal supply chains.
Map | The World Order; Image | DSullivan 2
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