IberBlue Wind, a joint venture created to promote floating offshore wind farms in the Iberian Peninsula, has announced its first project for Portugal – a floating offshore wind farm off the coast of Figueira da Foz. Called Botafogo, in honour of the Portuguese galleon that was built in the 16th century and became known as the most powerful warship in the world in its time, the new array will occupy an area of 359 sq km and will have installed 55 wind turbines, each with a capacity of 18 MW, making a total of 990 MW of installed capacity.

Figueira da Foz is one of the five areas proposed by the Portuguese government for offshore renewable energy exploration, and the choice of IberBlue Wind in this area is justified by the combination of its high wind potential, port infrastructure and low impact on other activities in the area.

The development of this project will create thousands of jobs, most of which will be allocated to the development and construction phase of the wind farm, and the rest to the operation and maintenance of the wind turbines during its years of operation.

The Botafogo array will be constructed on floating platforms anchored to the seabed allowing it to be located 30-50 km from the coast and greatly reducing its visual impact. This technology overcomes the limitations posed to bottom-fixed installations by the narrowness of the continental shelf off the Iberian Peninsula.

Adrián de Andrés, an IberBlue Wind VP commented: "Figueira da Foz is a region with great potential. Besides the high wind strengths and the existing port infrastructure, it’s located near to the centre of the country where there is significant demand for energy from both industrial and private consumers".

IberBlue Wind is a joint venture of Irish company Simply Blue Group and the Spanish companies Proes Consultores and FF New Energy Ventures. It aims to develop at least 2 GW of offshore wind capacity off the Iberian Peninsula using floating wind farms each of 500 MW or more.

In addition to Botafogo, IberBlue Wind announced a project in Spain last November, Nao Victoria, located in the Alboran Sea off the coasts of Cadiz and Malaga, on an area of 310 sq km2 and also with an installed capacity of 990 MW.

IberBlue Wind is also working on a number of other projects for the Iberian Peninsula.

Image: WTG installed at the Kincardine offshore wind farm