The total investment in the five floating wind farms Greenalia plans to build in the waters around the Spanish Canary Islands will amount to between EUR 800 million and EUR 950 million, according to the latest information from the developer.
The company met with the Canary Islands’ Government on 30 March and provided a status update on its projects, of which the Gofio floating wind farm is in the most advanced stage of development, having obtained the authorisation in terms of aeronautical easements from AESA (State Aviation Safety Agency) in December 2021.
The 50 MW Gofio project is estimated to cost between EUR 175 million and EUR 200 million.
All five projects, totalling 250 MW in installed capacity, would see a combined investment of between EUR 800 million and EUR 950 million, with between EUR 300 million and EUR 500 million going to national and local companies and the mobilisation of some 800-850 direct and indirect jobs for each of the five projects currently under development.
For the Gofio project alone, it is expected that an amount of between EUR 60 million and EUR 100 million would be poured into Spanish and Canarian businesses that will work on the project.
During the meeting with the Canarian Government, Greenalia expressed its commitment to identifying the largest possible number of potential companies from the Canary Islands which could be part of the construction and operation of the floating wind farms.
This commitment is also part of the Memorandum of Understanding the company signed last May with the Canary Islands Maritime Cluster.
The Parque Eólico Gofio project, which will comprise four 12.5 MW wind turbines on floating foundations, is located in the South East of the Gran Canaria Island, in waters off the municipality of San Bartolomé de Tirajana and close to the port of Arinaga.
Greenalia submitted a planning application for the floating wind farm in the first half of 2020.
In September 2020, the company revealed it had filed the project and environmental planning applications to develop four additional floating wind farms in Gran Canaria.
The four new projects are called Dunas, Mojo, Cardon and Guanche, and are also located offshore the Gran Canarian South-East coast, with each project also expected to have 50 MW of capacity.