New Energy World™
New Energy World™ embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low-carbon technologies.
Spain’s first floating offshore wind turbine connects to grid
4/10/2023
News
The DemoSATH platform, located two miles off the Basque coast, has become Spain’s first floating offshore wind turbine to connect to the electrical grid.
The floating offshore wind project, led by the Spanish engineering firm Saitec Offshore Technologies, in collaboration with Germany’s RWE and Japan’s Kansai Electric Power (Kepco), was installed offshore at the BiMEP test substation at Armintza, in the Basque Country, in August.
DemoSATH is the fifth European floating wind turbine of over 1 MW to be installed in open sea.
The commissioning marks the beginning of a two-year programme to gather data about the behaviour of Saitec’s SATH technology.
Specialised tools for the identification of birds and bats have been installed around the floating offshore turbine, as well as systems for monitoring marine ecosystem biodiversity within the local environment.
€600mn to fund 8.5 GW of clean energy projects
Elsewhere in Spain, renewables company and investor Bruc has signed a financing agreement with seven entities for the construction of 8.5 GW of solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind power projects in Spain.
The agreement involves €600mn of finance, with Santander, ING, Instituto de Credito Oficial, BNP Paribas and Intesa Sanpaolo acting as bookrunners and mandated lead arrangers (MLAs), and Schroders Capital and Infranity as MLAs.
Bruc says that the investment will help build and commission the GW-scale portfolio. The projects include wind and solar hybrid schemes located in Aragon, Andalusia, Extremadura, Castile-La Mancha and Castile and Leon. Bruc also plans to develop several energy storage projects.
