Saitec starts permitting for 45-MW floating wind project in Basque waters

Spanish engineering firm Saitec Offshore Technologies said that it has initiated the environmental permitting process for a pilot project to install a 45-MW floating wind farm off the coast of the Basque Country.

The Green Energy Research for Offshore Atlantic (GEROA) project will rely on Saitec’s own SATH concrete floating platforms on which three units of 15-MW wind turbines will be installed.

The SATH, or Swinging Around Twin Hull, technology uses a twin hull made of modularly prefabricated and then braced concrete elements. The float can align itself around a single point of mooring following wind and wave patterns.

The company wants the floating wind farm to commence operation in 2025, it said. The array would be located 10 kilometres (6.21 miles) of the coast of Bilbao.

The GEROA project is promoted by Itsas Wind SL, a company within the Basque Country-based engineering group Saitec.

GEROA is considered by the developer a progression of its 2-MW DemoSATH project prototype. The DemoSATH structure is currently under construction in the Port of Bilbao, Saitec said. The unit will then tested in Basque waters at a site operated by Spanish public company Biscay Marine Energy Platform (BiMEP) for two years.

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