Cádiz hosts the largest offshore wind meeting: challenges and opportunities for Spain
The Wind Energy Association (AEE), together with the Andalusian Renewable Energy Association (CLANER) and the Cádiz Maritime Naval Cluster, are organizing the most important event in the offshore wind sector.
More than 400 national attendees and international delegations, the main experts in offshore wind power, as well as institutional and social representatives, will meet at this meeting. For two days, the Cádiz Conference Center will host technical sessions that will include round tables, debate sessions, keynote lectures, as well as B2B meetings and visits to facilities.
The third edition of the Offshore Wind Congress will bring together more than 400 national and international attendees in Cadiz from November 6 to 8, who will analyze the future challenges for the deployment of floating offshore wind energy in Spain. Under an orderly development, respectful of the environment and compatible with other uses and activities at sea, the offshore wind industry will generate an opportunity for the country with industrial and economic activity and the creation of new jobs.
Since its first edition, the Offshore Wind Congress has had an integrative and itinerant approach, visiting the main regions with a leading role in offshore wind energy, and allowing the main business, economic and social actors at a regional level to have a presence there. This year it falls on Cadiz as one of the main centers of operations for the future development of offshore wind energy in Spain. Cadiz becomes the technological epicenter of floating offshore wind energy for three days.
At the opening of the Congress, on November 7, we will have the participation of Sara Aagesen, Secretary of State for Energy (PC); Alfonso Vargas, President of the Association of Renewable Energies of Andalusia (CLANER); Bruno García, Mayor of the City Council of Cádiz; Manuel Larrasa, Secretary General of the Junta de Andalucía; and Rocío Sicre, President of AEE.
Alfonso Vargas, president of CLANER, emphasizes that “the Congress is being held at a crucial time for offshore wind power in Spain, following the recent approval of the Royal Decree that regulates it, and will serve to highlight the enormous potential of our region, from the development of technologies to the manufacture of floating structures, as well as in the promotion of projects that are compatible and respectful of the natural environment and economic development. We also highlight the importance of the incorporation of a new renewable resource to advance decarbonization, which will allow Spain to be a world leader in floating wind power, provided that we align public and private efforts.”
José Luis García Zaragoza Pérez, president of the Cádiz Maritime Naval Cluster, emphasizes that “it is an honor to collaborate in this Congress and that Cádiz has been chosen as host. The Andalusian naval industry is made up of nearly 400 companies, most of them located in the Bay of Cadiz, and two large companies with extensive experience and international prestige in naval and offshore construction. We therefore have the necessary potential to be a nerve centre for the offshore wind industry in Spain.”
Rocío Sicre, president of AEE: “Spain has an opportunity to position the Spanish offshore wind industry as an international benchmark. In this area, and specifically in floating technology, Spain is a technological and industrial hub at a global level. The offshore wind industry covers a value chain that includes a wide variety of activities and strategic sectors, providing solidity and guaranteeing stable and qualified employment. The development of offshore wind represents a boost for sectors with which it has synergies, such as naval construction and shipyards, the auxiliary maritime industry and port management, civil engineering and consulting, the construction industry, as well as the metal industry, etc. Cadiz is a clear and perfect example of a strategic area that brings together a large part of the value chain of the offshore wind industry and is key to being one of the focal points for the start of the deployment of offshore wind power in our country.”
The development of floating offshore wind power in Spain
The objectives for the development of offshore wind power in Spain, set out in the Offshore Wind and Marine Energy Roadmap and the new Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan 2023-2030, establish reaching up to 3 GW of offshore wind power by 2030.
This new power will generate a driving effect on the industrial wind sector and other sectors necessary for the deployment of floating wind power on our coasts. Floating offshore wind power has a leading position worldwide and needs a local market to consolidate its competitiveness. The offshore wind industry covers a value chain that includes ports, shipyards, wind turbine manufacturers, wind farm developers and service companies, resource analysis, environmental protection, etc. The entire value chain provides solidity to the industrial framework and guarantees stable and qualified employment.
The Spanish wind sector has the value chain and infrastructure necessary to address the development of offshore wind power on our coasts and to be an international benchmark in floating offshore wind technology. We have a privileged position as the world’s leading developer of offshore wind prototypes, port infrastructures with great potential as logistics hubs and a naval industry that is already diversifying its activity towards the construction of marine structures and support vessels for offshore wind farms.
The development of offshore wind power has a driving effect on the economy of our country. If the PNIEC objectives are met, 7,500 new jobs will be created with the installation of the initial 3 GW, contributing more than €2,000 million annually to the national GDP.
Conference programme with the presence of offshore wind development experts
The programme of the III Offshore Wind Congress has 7 sessions with the participation of more than 50 speakers and 5 keynotes, with representation of the main companies and institutions related to offshore wind in Spain, and the presence of international delegations, to analyse the following topics:
- Planning and regulatory framework in Spain
- The new European Parliament and Commission and its implications for offshore wind
- Industrial capacity: rhythms and consolidation
- Development in the territories and social acceptance
- Legal procedures and new models
- Recommendations and lessons learned to be taken into account in environmental impact studies
- Safety as the key to success
- Dialogue with key sectors: fishing and tourism
- Situation of international markets
- Project financing and risk management
- Latest technological trends
- Strengths of the Spanish wind energy value chain
The VIP sponsors of the III Offshore Wind Congress are Iberdrola, Navantia Seanergies and Ocean Winds.
The collaborators of this event are AON, ARUP, Bureau Veritas, BW Ideol, Dekra, Disa, DNV, Dogram, DT Bird, Ecos Group, EnerOcean, Esteyco, Invenergy, Navalia, Parque Tarahal, Qair, Ramboll, TotalEnergies, Trigo, Watson Farley & Williams and X1 Wind.
