The Government is demanding that Madrid delimit areas of the Balears Islands to produce offshore wind energy, but says it does not foresee the creation of marine parks like they have in the United Kingdom
The Vice President of the Government and Minister of Energy Transition, Juan Pedro Yllanes, has written to the Secretaries of State for Energy and the Environment, asking for a floating wind energy marina be installed in the Balearic Islands.
Vice President Yllanes is proposing that the Central Government regulate the maritime space of the Islands to establish areas that are suitable for marine renewable energies.
The State Plan for the Management of Maritime Space states that only the northeast of Menorca is capable of housing this type of installation right now, but Vice President Yllanes wants Madrid to explore new areas in the Balearic Sea.
"We strongly support the inclusion of various polygons in the Balearic Sea for offshore wind energy,” said Mr Yllanes. “Offshore wind power would diversify the contribution of renewables and we wouldn't have to depend exclusively on photovoltaics, which can't achieve the objectives set by law. I’s not desirable to base the entire energy transition on solar energy, marine energies should play a fundamental role in the island territories.”
"Floating offshore wind energy consists of the installation of windmills that are not anchored to the seabed, instead they float in the sea and are attached with weights,” explained the general director of Energy, Pep Malagrava. “This system provides more hours of energy per year than onshore wind and photovoltaic energy and the cost includes the installation of a connection cable with the coast.”
Each floating marine mill would be 70-100 metres high, produce 10-15 megawatts and be located about 20 kilometres from the coast.
“Just like photovoltaics on rural land, any source of energy has an impact,” said Malagrava. “From a distance, the visual impact of the mills will be almost imperceptible, but, of course, environmental impact studies will be carried out and these facilities can be easily removed without causing irreversible damage.”
The Central Government says marine areas for floating wind energy must register an average wind speed of 7 metres per second, but the Government is proposing that these speeds be lowered, so that more areas of the Balearic Sea can be included.