Last February, the Ministry led by Teresa Ribera announced the opening for public hearing of a draft royal decree to regulate the production of electrical energy in facilities located at sea. The purpose of this standard is to allow the economic regime for renewable energy, the reservation of network access capacity and the granting of use of the maritime-terrestrial public domain to offshore wind energy installations to occur simultaneously. In this way, it will be possible to have a solid regulatory framework for the development of offshore wind and other renewable sources in Spain.
According to Ministry sources, this bill is an integral part of the Offshore Wind and Sea Energy Roadmap, as well as the update of the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (Pniec) 2023-2030, which aims to reach 3 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind and up to 60 megawatts of other marine renewable sources in 2030. In addition, it is estimated that the development of these sources of energy generation could generate up to 40,000 jobs.
This project follows the path of Maritime Space Management Planswhich include 19 High Potential Zones (ZAP) approved by this same institution for the installation of offshore wind turbines on an area of 5,000 square kilometers, which represents 0.46% of Spanish territorial waters.
When this legislation is passed, it will affect the offshore wind installations and other sea energies that produce energy in the marine territory under Spanish jurisdiction. These rights will always be granted through contests, where economic and technical criteria will be taken into account, as well as other factors such as space occupation and minimization of environmental impact. Other aspects will also be considered, such as plans for the dismantling of equipment at the end of its useful life, the creation of local employment and the participation of SMEs in the projects.
The spanish government has allocated 147 million euros for pilot projects and marine renewable testing platforms within the framework of the Strategic Project for the Recovery and Economic Transformation of Renewable Energies, Renewable Hydrogen and Storage (Perte ERHA), underlining its commitment to the transition towards a cleaner and more sustainable energy system.