IberBlue Wind, the joint venture created to promote floating offshore wind farms in the Iberian Peninsula, announced today its first project for Portugal: a floating offshore wind farm off the coast of Figueira da Foz. Called Botafogo, in honour of the Portuguese galleon that was built in the 16th Century and became known as the most powerful warship in the world in its time, the wind farm will occupy an area of 359 km² and will have 55 wind turbines, each with a capacity of 18MW, making a total of 990 MW of installed capacity, which could supply electricity to hundreds of thousands of homes.

Figueira da Foz is one of the five areas proposed by the Portuguese government for offshore renewable energy exploration, and the choice of IberBlue Wind in this area is justified by the combination of its high wind potential, port infrastructure and low impact on other activities in the area.

The implementation of this project requires close collaboration with different stakeholders. IberBlue Wind has already engaged with ports and regional and local institutions, to ensure its project is integrated in the best way possible into the region.

The development of this project will create thousands of jobs, most of which will be allocated to the development and construction phase of the wind farm, and the rest to the operation and maintenance of the wind turbines during its years of operation.

The Botafogo offshore wind farm will be constructed on floating platforms anchored to the seabed allowing it to be located 30-50 km from the coast and greatly reducing its visual impact. This technology allows the wind turbines to be located in deeper waters further from shore, which overcomes the limitations posed to bottom-fixed installations by the narrowness of the continental shelf off the Iberian Peninsula.

Adrián de Andrés, Vice President of IberBlue Wind said: 
“Figueira da Foz is a region with great potential. Besides the high wind strengths and the existing port infrastructure, it’s located near to the centre of the country where there is significant demand for energy from both industrial and private consumers”.

2 GW business opportunities in the Iberian Peninsula

IberBlue Wind, a joint venture between Irish company Simply Blue Group, a leader in floating offshore wind energy, and the Spanish companies Proes Consultores and FF New Energy Ventures, a renewable energy project developer. It aims to develop at least 2GW of offshore wind capacity off the Iberian Peninsula using floating wind farms each of 500 MW or more.

In addition to Botafogo, IberBlue Wind announced another project in Spain last November: Nao Victoria, located in the Alboran Sea, off the coasts of Cadiz and Malaga, on an area of 310 km2 and also with an installed capacity of 990 MW.

IberBlue Wind is working on a number of other projects for the Iberian Peninsula, which will be announced shortly.

KeyFacts Renewable Energy Directory: Simply Blue