(31-05-10) Offshore wind farms are emerging as the solution of the future for the creation of clean energy created without ecological impact. Spain, with 5,000 km of coastline and being one of the leading countries in wind power production in land, does not have and will not have marine farms in the coming years because of budget problems and lack of interest of the Government.

    The marine protection organization Oceana showed, in the framework of the European Maritime Day held in Gijón last month, what oceanic acidification is and explained that renewable energies that are a key factor to mitigate impacts of climate change.

    CO2 is not only a powerful greenhouse gas: it is the main cause of the phenomenon known as acidification. Oceans act like major CO2 drains. They reduce its concentration in the atmosphere and thus play a major role in mitigating climate change-associated impacts such as global warming.

    Nevertheless, due to the growing and continuous emission of CO2, this buffering effect threatens to alter the oceans chemistry. This has dire consequences for ecosystems and the oceans’ biodiversity.

    “Since the beginning of the industrial age, the oceans have absorbed 30% of the C02 emissions and 80% of the heat generated by greenhouse gases”, explains Xavier Pastor, Executive Director of Oceana Europe. “This has brought about a reduction of marine pH by 0.1 units. If we continue emitting CO2 into the atmosphere at the current pace and intensity, by the end of the century, reductions in the pH of 0.3-0.4 units could be reached. This will be devastating for our oceans.”.

    Oceana is calling for an urgent reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to stop ocean acidification. Acidification jeopardizes the survival of coral reefs and numerous marine species, and with them, the means of subsistence for millions of people worldwide.

REDUCE C02 EMISSIONS TO HALT ACIDIFICATION

    To halt the acidification of our oceans, we must be capable of reducing and stabilizing the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere at 350 ppm. To do so, we must reduce our emissions by 40% in comparison with 1990 levels by 2020, and by 80-95% by 2050 as recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

    To achieve these emissions cut, permanent decarbonization of the planet is necessary, and clean and renewable energies play a fundamental role toward this goal.

    The seas are an immense source of energy. Therefore those technologies that are capable of exploiting this important energy resource must be included on the road to decarbonization. Among them, marine wind power stands out nowadays because it has the greatest development and is the most competitive commercially-wise.

    With the 'approval' from environmental organizations, offshore wind is as one of the most profitable energy for the future. However, Spain does not have any offshore wind farm in spite of being the third country in producing onshore wind in the world after USA and Germany.

    Offshore wind has been installed successfully in several European countries for years –UK and Denmark are the leaders- although its technology is still being developed.

    In Spain we will have to wait longer (the most optimistic forecast say that they will be three or four years at least) to build the first farms and take advantage of the 5,000 km of coastline Spain has.

AN EXPENSIVE AND IN DEVELOPMENT ENERGY

    Building these platforms is expensive –more than building the onshore ones- and is difficult to install them in some areas. Current technology does not allow placing an offshore wind farm very deep (an average of 12 meters, although it can reach 22 meters) so the places in the Spanish coast are not so much: much of the Spanish coast is abrupt and reaches great depths a few meters from the coast.

    Last year, the ministries of Industry and Environment approved the Environmental Strategic Study of the Spanish coast in order to refine and define the areas suitable for installing windmills at sea. The “Marine Wild Map” shows suitable areas, excluded areas (not to build in them) and suitable areas but with some conditions to guarantee that these technology will preserve marine environment. When defining authorized places in the coast, they have avoided the most sensitive areas to migrating birds and cetaceans.

    More than thirty companies have shown interest in developing projects in Spain so far, according to the Ministry of Industry. However, the administrative process is very long, and the Government does not show much interest and it will take several years to begin to build the first offshore wind farms.

Text: Guadalupe Romero / Oceana / MI