€2,000 million for an offshore wind farm 50 kms away from Vigo by Capital Energy

It projects 34 wind turbines with 510 megawatts of power.

Capital Energy has submitted to the Ministry of Ecological Transition the project to set up the first Offshore Wind Farm in the Rías Baixas (South-Galician estuaries). The energy company specializing in renewables plans to do it between Vigo and A Guarda, about 40 kilometres from the Cíes Islands. The project, called Volanteiro, foresees an investment of 2,000 million euros to generate 510 megawatts by 34 wind turbines.

The action map drawn by Capital Energy in the documentation delivered to Teresa Ribera Department covers an area of more than 95 square kilometres and contemplates a connection with Pazos de Borbén electrical sub-station, dependent on Electrical net from Pontevedra province. The line would cover 45 kilometres underwater and 22 more on land. The project specifies that the POEM (Maritime Space Management Plans) will determine the exact location where the windmills can be built. There is no Offshore Wind Farm on the Galician coast at the moment, and this is the first one to be launched in the South of the community, 30 away from the coast.

The fishing sector impact seems like one of the main issues to protect. In this project, Capital Energy maintains that " establishment area does not interact with areas identified as fishing grounds." Nor would affect plots with aquaculture facilities, "although mollusc production areas declared by the autonomous community will be occupied." The company that promotes the floating park also minimizes the effect the chosen location would have on maritime traffic because it is "at a certain distance from the areas of greatest density" and from large ships routes.

The plan draft proposes the selection of fifteen megawatt turbines with a semi-submersible concrete floating platform and positioned in a layout that maximizes the production of wind energy with respect to the area speed and wind direction. "In this way, the total power of the park would be 510 megawatts for 34 positions," explains Capital Energy.

Just thirty kilometres away from the location that Capital Energy is evaluating for the Volanteiro, off the coast of Portugal (Viana do Castelo), is the Wind float Atlantic platform. Built in May 2020, it was inaugurated as the first floating wind farm in continental Europe. It has three wind turbines thirty meters high and is located twenty kilometres from the coast. In operation, it can supply 60,000 families a year.
According to the information provided to the Ministry of Ecological Transition, the company's idea is to build the pieces of the platform in the outer port of A Coruña, in Langosteira, where the mills and the tower would also be integrated. It is estimated that the construction of this concrete platform "could generate approximately between 1,300 and 1,600 direct jobs."

The renewable energy sector is waiting for the Government to modify regulations for tenders and establish the distribution of areas and locations, in addition to their power in megawatts.
Ownership

Capital Energy was founded twenty years ago. Its owner, Jesús Martín Buezas, aspires to compete with energy sector big names, such as Iberdrola and Endesa, and to make Spain a European benchmark for green energy. Florentino Pérez former son-in-law, president of ACS, plans to invest 10,000 million euros in the national territory until 2025 to generate 13,000 megawatts of clean energy.

(Source: La Voz de Galicia)