Iberdrola is planning what will be the first industrial-scale floating offshore wind farm in Spain and is to allocate more than €1bn to the 300MW project.
The floating wind project has been submitted to the Next Generation EU programme and is aligned with the pillars of the Spanish Government’s Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan.
Iberdrola said it expects the wind farm’s design and engineering phase could begin this year, with the project having the potential to generate at least one thousand jobs during 2021 and 2022.
Between the 2023 and 2026 the project could generate more than 2800 jobs annually during construction.
The project would be delivered by 66 Spanish companies and technology centres.
The 300MW has the potential to “spearhead” the development of up to 2000MW of floating offshore wind projects identified by Iberdrola, off the coasts of Galicia, Andalusia and the Canary Islands.
The project is one of 150 initiatives submitted by the company to the Next Generation EU programme, in the fields of heat electrification, floating offshore, sustainable mobility, green hydrogen, innovative renewables, smart grids, circular economy and energy storage.
These would potentially mobilise investments of €21bn and involve hundreds of small and medium-sized enterprises.
The projects, collectively, would generate 45,000 jobs a year and economic growth of more than 1.5% of GDP as well as bring new employment opportunities to rural areas.
In addition, Iberdrola is deploying an investment plan of €14.3bn by 2025 in Spain.