Saitec plans Spanish floating offshore wind pilot with five 10MW turbines

Saitec has announced plans for a ‘pre-commercial’ deployment of five 10MW turbines using its SATH (swinging around twin hull) floating wind platform, which will be installed 15km offshore of Cap de Creus on the Costa Brava, Catalonia, Spain.

The project will require the creation of  infrastructure to test and validate the SATH technology.

Spanish engineering firm Saitec says it will demonstrate the technical, environmental and social feasibility of floating offshore wind energy, and particularly of SATH technology, in the Mediterranean. 

Saitec also wants to investigate the possibilities of shared use with other activities, such as fishing and aquaculture, alongside floating wind. 

The company has submitted an initial project document for the Medfloat Pilot Parc to environmental regulators, who will provide information on the scope of necessary environmental impact studies, although Saitec says it is already carrying out drafting work on the Environmental Impact Study.

The 50MW Medfloat Pilot Parc Medfloat Pilot Parc (50MW) Offshoreoff Cap de Creus, Catalonia, Spain, Europe Click to see full details will be the third project in the development of the platform, which has two cylindrical and horizontal hulls with conical edges braced by a concrete frame. The platform can align itself around a single point of mooring, according to the direction of the wind and waves, according to Saitec. 

The site has been provisionally defined as priority use for offshore wind power in Spain’s maritime spatial planning blueprints. Saitec claims it has the right wind and depth conditions for the new project.

Saitec has previously installed a 30kW pilot project using the platform off Santander, northern Spain, which was knocked over during a storm in 2021. It is installing a 2MW demonstration project with RWE Renewables, which is due to go into operation this year at the BiMEP test area in Biscay, Spain. The 2MW DemoSATH DemoSATH (2MW) OffshoreBasque Country, Spain, Europe Click to see full details project will be a test site for two years, and will be the first floating offshore wind turbine connected to the Spanish grid.

It is installing another pilot project – 45MW Geroa Geroa (45MW) Offshoreoff Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain, Europe Click to see full details – off Spain’s Basque coast.