The Norwegian Equinor presents its wind project to the companies of the Canary Islands Maritime Cluster 15 de November de 2021 – Posted in: news

Representatives of the Norwegian company Equinor have met these days with companies grouped in the Canary Islands Maritime Cluster to explain their project to install an offshore wind farm in the waters of Gran Canaria. Equinor puts on the table the project called FOWCA (Floating Offshore Wind Canarias), an initiative that would represent an investment in the islands of 860 million dollars. Equinor’s visit to the Canary Islands takes place two weeks after the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Maritime Cluster and the Norwegian Offshore Wind Cluster entity during the celebration in Norway of the international Offshore Technology Days (OTD Energy 2021) fair, an agreement that It will allow the establishment of a collaborative framework to strengthen the supply chain in future offshore wind projects, both in the Canary Islands and in Norway.

The offshore wind farm that Equinor projects would be installed about 10 kilometers from the southeast coast of Gran Canaria, at the height of the town of Juan Grande, located in the municipality of San Bartolomé de Tirajana. Its start-up would generate about 200 direct jobs and would have a useful life of about 28 years. The wind farm would be 225 MW and would involve the installation of some 15 platforms with the most powerful 15 MW wind turbines, as reported by the company’s executives to Canarian companies interested in the offshore wind sector.

All these data have been exposed in detail to the Canary Islands companies, in a meeting that was attended by Elba Bueno, manager of the Canary Islands Maritime Cluster, and Equinor executives such as Javier Díez (Equinor Nuevas Enegías), Ove Vold ( Sustainability Engineer), Per Ivar Barth Berntsen (FOWCA technical director) and Anne Marit (FOWCA Project Management). Equinor representatives also explained in detail the aspects related to the environmental assessment of their project in Gran Canaria and the general plans of the Norwegian entity in the floating offshore wind energy sector.

Equinor has already completed all the prior procedures necessary to receive administrative and environmental approval for your project. In addition, the company recently opened a renewable subsidiary in the Canary Islands Special Zone (ZEC) and has already received the express support of the Norwegian ambassador to Spain, Odd Mølster. Equinor is one of the largest offshore wind developers in the world.

He has extensive experience in this sector in the UK, having built and commissioned Sheringham Shoal, Dudgeon and Hywind Scotland, the world’s first floating offshore wind farm. They are now partnering with SSE Renewables and Eni to offer Dogger Bank, the largest offshore wind farm in the world.