Sarens Supports Spanish Upcoming Offshore Wind Sector

May 19, 2021 | Renewables | Energy Facts Staff Writer | 4min

Sarens, a world leader and reference in crane rental services, heavy lifting and transport engineering, projects a wide range of opportunities in Spain for the development of offshore wind. According to WindEurope, Spain is positioned as the seventh country in onshore wind project investment in Europe and in terms of acquisitions, it leads the European market with 2.5 billion euros for a total of 2.4 GW of wind power.

The transition towards renewable energy will promote much-needed economic growth, as well as the generation of thousands of jobs, where both the offshore and onshore wind industries will experience unprecedented growth due to their consolidation in the European market and the Spanish government’s commitment to investment in innovation in floating marine technology.

This trend increases the opportunities of the wind industry in Spain as it demonstrates the maturity of its market in onshore wind projects and its ability to develop offshore wind projects. The Asociación Empresarial Eólica en España (AEE) assures that this success of the Spanish market in Europe opens the door to continue promoting offshore onshore wind and boosting floating wind power.

In addition, the government of Spain has highlighted its involvement in consolidating this sector in a solid and stable manner and announced an investment of €5.3 billion for the energy transition. As part of this, €1.9 billion will be allocated to renewable energy development activities such as offshore wind, among other areas. This announcement coincides with the draft of a new Law on Climate Change and Energy Transition with which Spain expects that by 2050 100% of the country’s electricity will be generated through renewable energies.

New challenges for Spanish offshore wind
Spain has more than 6,000 km of coastline, which gives it an excellent advantage of offshore wind investment given its location, but the depth of its surrounding sea floor proves to be an obstacle for the installation of fixed wind turbines. The industry is currently experiencing a breakthrough in offshore wind technology that enables offshore sites without forgetting the environmental and visual impact.

“We have been operating for years in various large-scale projects on all continents. Investment in the development of this type of wind project is very necessary in Spain. We have identified its enormous potential and territorial location and for this reason we make available the services that develop an optimized and efficient solution, ” assures Dimitri Laurent, Sales Manager South Europe, Latam & Africa.

The solution requires floating offshore wind farms, a field in which Sarens has significant experience in managing projects with a full and comprehensive scope, providing logistics services on land and sea, loading and unloading of extremely heavy wind turbine parts, which they recently affirmed after a project for Tyra East Future Field.

“For us, it is not only to provide innovation but also immediate solutions, and Spain needs expert teams in the wind industry to guarantee profitable and timely solutions”, says Laurent.

Sarens assures that the investment proposed by the Spanish government will speed up the transition to renewable energy in the country. Six years after signing the Paris Climate Agreement, Spain needs to implement concrete measures that can help it on the path to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.