The Granadilla Offshore Wind Farm project and its environmental impact study are subject to public information for 30 days, starting today. It will consist of five wind turbines located between 1,850 and 3,650 meters from the Port of Granadilla, with a power of 50 megawatts. Its construction and installation will require an investment of 103,771,367 eurosaccording to the promoter consortium formed by BlueFloat Energy and Capital Energy, with Esteyco as a technological partner.
The environmental impact study concludes that the project is compatible and viable. Specify that More than 90% of the cost, excluding the supply of the turbines, will benefit existing companies and technologies in Tenerife. That is to say, “direct work for more than 300 people for almost three yearsand indirect for an even larger amount.
The area proposed to locate the wind farm is within the public port domain, which extends from the current Port of Granadilla to Punta del Sordo, to the Northeast, and two miles out to sea to the Southeast. Specifically, the project states that «The area considered for the location is located in front of Caleta and Arico». When choosing the location, they took into account “conditions basically determined by the wind resource, the energy evacuation capacity, maritime traffic conditions, aerial easements, bathymetry and characteristics of the marine platform.”
The five 10-megawatt wind turbines will be arranged in two alignments, reaching depths of between 15 and 55 meters. Each foundation will occupy 1,590 square meters on the seabed. They will be interconnected with marine cable at 66 kilovolts (kV) and will link with the Red Eléctrica substation in the Industrial Estate with between 4,850 to 5,800 meters of submarine cable and 1,400 meters of terrestrial cable.
Conclusions
The environmental impact study that begins its public information period today is “environmentally viable”, although it requires applying protective and corrective measures and developing the environmental monitoring program it proposes. The document states that the installation will prevent the emission of between 3.8 and 4.05 million CO2 particles, “which has a direct impact on air quality and the minimization of the effects of climate change.”
Although this offshore wind farm “predictably” entails effects “on the elements of the environment in which it will be located” during its construction, maintenance and dismantling, «its contribution to the production of renewable energy is decisive when deciding its environmental viability».
Impacts
The study prepared by the company Esteyco SA assesses how moderated the impact on the marine habitat, in the area of community interest existing in the area and on the birdlife. Furthermore, it concludes that it provides an average benefit in aspects such as climate, air quality and fishing fauna; benefit that becomes low in fishing activity and in employment.
The document concludes that “the assessment of the global effects associated with construction and operation can be classified as very beneficial, despite the fact that they may generate other isolated and specific effects that are not so positive, such as the visual impact of wind turbines.” . In this regard, and taking into account “its implementation in an environment already altered from the landscape point of view by the facilities that already exist in the Industrial Estate and the Port of Granadilla”, the environmental impact study on display establishes that “it is assessed compatible”.
The construction of the Granadilla Offshore Wind Farm “can be a starting point, and therefore a great opportunity, so that the Port of Granadilla can become an international reference for the manufacture, assembly and distribution of substructures offshore“, not only at a national level but especially at a European level, with the consequent development that this industry would bring to both the port of Granadilla and the island of Tenerife.”
The purpose of the offshore wind installation is to contribute, through a profitable project, “to the sustainable energy self-supply of the island of Tenerifelowering the cost of the megawatt hour (MWh), currently weighed down significantly by the import of fossil fuels”, is contemplated in the justification and objective section of the project.
In it, it is considered that, as proposed, “it is perfectly viable and can constitute a very reasonable commercial milestone, after the installation in 2018, on the island of Gran Canaria, of a 5 MW prototype (the first wind turbine offshore of Spain).
Rejection
Since the interest in installing this marine park in the area around the Port of Granadilla and the neighboring Arico coast became public, fishermen and authorities expressed their rejection of the project. The essential argument is that the characteristics of these infrastructures affect the traffic of fishing vessels and the ecosystem, in addition to posing a danger to some species. «The people of Tajao live 100% off fishing. If they make our work difficult, the seafaring restoration of the area would make no sense,” explained Francisco Javier García Hernández, senior patron of the San Miguel de Tajao Brotherhood.
In the case of this park, he assured that it is planned to “anchor five mills in an area where, in addition to being shallow, there are sebados and angel sharks”, an ecosystem that the fishermen “have preserved and will make disappear.” In addition to the chains and the mill infrastructure, a cable will be installed on the seabed that will generate a magnetic field that “will pose a danger to the species, especially to the king crab, which will lose its ability to mate and even disappear.” .
