The floating offshore wind farms will be at a minimum distance of 14 kilometers from the Asturian coast. The Maritime Space Management Plan (POEM) of the North Atlantic demarcation approved on Tuesday by the Council of Ministers delimits three spaces in Asturias (two in the West and another off the coast of Gijón) for the installation of windmills that total an area of more than 330 square kilometers. Some hundred wind turbines could be installed in these areas, taking into account the capacity criteria used in projects that are underway in other areas.
The polygons for offshore wind power in Asturias have suffered a drastic reduction in surface area with respect to the initial drafts of the POEM, in which more than 820 square kilometers were delimited, taking into account the viability of the use of the wind resource -wind intensity, depths of the sea of less than 1,000 meters and proximity to an electrical substation on land – and taking into account the compatibility of these energy facilities with the conservation of biodiversity, and the interactions with other uses and activities such as fishing, navigation, port activity or national defense. During the participation process, the document was refined – “including demands from the fishing sector”, according to sources from the Government of the Principality – and the result was a delimitation of spaces with three polygons, as initially planned, but with a 60% surface area. total minus: just over 330 square kilometers.
The polygon in front of Gijón. The delimited areas coincide with those studied by wind power developers to launch floating offshore wind power projects in Asturias. The largest polygon is located off the coast of Gijón and Carreño and has an area of more than 151 square kilometres. It is the area to install wind turbines closest to the coast, since it is 14 kilometers from Cabo Peñas. In this area, the alliance formed by Naturgy and Enagás is considering the construction of a floating offshore wind farm linked to the production of green hydrogen in the vicinity of the port of El Musel.
The polygons of the West. The other two polygons delimited in the POEM are in western Asturias. The largest of them, measuring 104 square kilometers, is located off the coast of the councils of Tapia de Casariego and El Franco, at a minimum distance of 30 kilometers. And the other, of 80 square kilometers, is in front of the coast of the councils of Navia and Valdés, also at a minimum distance of 30 kilometers. Ocean Winds – a company owned 50% by EDP Renovables and Engie and directed by the Asturian engineer Bautista Rodríguez Sánchez – manages a floating offshore wind project for Asturias and has its sights set on the western part of the region. Although it has not publicly opted for a specific area, the company’s intentions were revealed when submitting allegations to the development plan for the 2021-2026 electricity transmission network that was processed by the Ministry for Ecological Transition. Ocean Winds stated that the document did not take into account the needs of offshore wind power and highlighted the interconnection of the network in the Navia area with the Asturias-Galicia high-voltage axis – which runs through the interior – as key. – “to accommodate the planned offshore wind generation in western Asturias”.
Processing. The POEM defines the areas that are susceptible to the development of offshore wind power, but as occurs on land, any wind project has to undergo ordinary environmental processing. In this process, all the interested parties can present allegations and, in the end, the project will obtain a favorable declaration or not. The Government delegate in Asturias, Delia Losa, assured yesterday that in Asturias “there will not be” offshore wind farms that can be installed without having the mandatory prior impact report on fishing areas and defended that the spatial planning plans maritime seek to “preserve that the fishing environment enjoys greater protection”.
The Asturian fishermen foresee a storm: “They have betrayed us”
Yesterday was a day of “hot phones” in the Asturian fishing ports, where a storm is expected due to the approval of the POEMs, which open the door to the development of offshore wind farms. The elder bosses of the brotherhoods exchanged inflammatory calls to share their discontent and state that they feel “neglected” and “betrayed.” In the case of the president of the Provincial Federation of Fishermen’s Guilds, Adolfo García Méndez, he used his mobile phone to mobilize the sector in the face of what is interpreted as “an attack”, and in statements to this newspaper to ask for “the head” of the director general of Energy of the Principality, Belarmina Díaz Aguado, “for lying when stating that the marine areas authorized for wind power uses were consulted with the fishermen and ensuring that there will be no impact on fishing.” García Méndez expanded the list of regional government officials who are in the crosshairs of the fishermen’s anger: “We demand that the Minister of Fisheries, Alejandro Calvo, come out of the cave and demonstrate; and that President Barbón be consistent with the declaration that it signed in the Board and that urges the Ministry for the Ecological Transition to evaluate with scientific rigor the impact that the construction of wind mills in the sea will have on fishing and marine biodiversity of our coast”. The Asturian fishermen have also signed a joint communiqué of the entire fishing sector of the peninsular Northwest in which the resignation of Minister Teresa Ribera is requested and the study of legal actions against the approval of the POEMs is announced, in addition to mobilizations. In the political sphere, the PP accuses the PSOE of “putting the Asturian fishing fleet in check with the imposition of offshore wind farms” and warns that “marine ecosystems and the fishing sector are being attacked under an ecological pretext”. Vox announces a battery of questions to Pedro Sánchez, whom they hold responsible for “putting the bread of many fishing families at risk.”