Iberdrola, a Spanish multinational electric utility company, says it is planning what will be the first industrial-scale floating offshore wind farm in Spain – to which it would allocate more than €1 billion of investment.
The study, design and engineering of the wind farm could potentially begin this year and generate more than 2,800 jobs per year until it becomes operational in 2026. In the short term, the initiative could generate between 1,000 and 2,000 jobs during 2021-2022 – before the start of the construction phase. The proposed project would require the participation of 66 Spanish companies and technology centers.
Iberdrola’s proposed project would spearhead the development of up to 2,000 MW of floating offshore wind capacity off the coasts of Galicia, Andalusia and the Canary Islands. Additionally, the project represents an opportunity to develop Spain’s supply chain; it has been submitted to the Next Generation EU program and is aligned with the Spanish government’s Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan.
The project is one of 150 initiatives submitted by the company to the Next Generation EU program – in the fields of heat electrification, floating offshore, sustainable mobility, green hydrogen, innovative renewables, smart grids, circular economy and energy storage – that would mobilize investments of €21 billion and involve hundreds of small and medium-sized enterprises.
By 2025, Iberdrola expects to reach 60 GW of installed renewable capacity worldwide, of which 4 GW will be offshore wind.
