Spain launches €240 million call for marine renewable energy pilots and infrastructure development

The Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) of Spain has opened a €240 million call for the development of marine renewable energy pilot projects, test platforms and associated infrastructure.

The grant program, dubbed ‘Renmarinas Demos’, constitutes a first step to encourage the deployment of marine renewable energies in Spain as part of the future energy mix that will make it possible to replace the use of fossil fuels with clean energy sources and contribute to the country’s reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

The Institute for Energy Diversification and Savings (IDAE), under MITECO, will be in charge of managing these grants, which will be awarded on a competitive basis and implemented as a non-refundable grants for the beneficiaries.

The €240 million funding pot has been divided into four subprograms, and will support research into marine energy and the development of testing infrastructure, and prototype demonstrations – including tidal energy, wave energy, and floating solar devices, as well as both fixed and floating offshore wind technology with the associated equipment and technological solutions.

The first subprogram, with the total available funding of €90 million, is intended exclusively for research organizations for expansion of existing testing platforms or the construction of new testing infrastructure for marine renewable energy technologies. 

On the other hand, the second subprogram, which was allocated €60 million euros, will fund the projects of same characteristics, but developed by the private companies, consortiums, or business clusters.  

In both cases, the goal is to create the new infrastructure that will be used to test, demonstrate and validate new prototypes, innovative devices or pre-commercial marine renewables projects in real operating conditions in Spain.

These activities include the development of new testing infrastructure within and out of port infrastructures, as well as adaptation and/or reinforcement of existing testing infrastructure for conducting marine renewable trials. 

The third subprogram, with €45 million available, is aimed at development of technology demonstrators or, in other words, the prototypes related to wave and tidal energy, and floating solar, floating or bottom fixed offshore wind, as well as hybrid platforms including the aforementioned technologies.

It will support technology developers in the marine renewables sector looking to demonstrate pilot devices on the reinforced testing platforms or the new ones created in the Spanish waters and shores. 

The fourth line of grant program, supported with €45 million, has been set aside for joint projects covering marine renewable testing platforms and technological demonstrators carried out at the same locations with aligned project goals.

The program is set to open for applications on January 31, and will remain available for submissions until March 24, 2023.

According to MITECO, during the assessment of the projects, the incorporation of equipment to improve knowledge of the marine environment, the search for synergies with other activities – such as aquaculture or fishing – and the assessment of potential impacts on the marine environment, will be taken into account.

The incentive plan for marine energy pilots is in line with Spain’s roadmap for the development of offshore wind power and marine energy, which set an objective to reach 1 to 3GW of floating offshore wind power, and between 40 and 60MW of marine energy installed capacity by 2030.

MITECO sees marine energy as one of the pillars of energy transition in the medium and long-term at a national, European and global level, due to its energy potential and for its industrial, economic and social opportunities for Spain.

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