Technology

The Spanish Maritime Cluster believes that Spanish industry should build on its competitive advantages – extensive international experience in the shipbuilding sector and enormous prestige in the (onshore) wind segment – to grab a large chunk of the pie that is baking in the northern seas of the Old Continent. According to the Cluster, this could lead to the creation of up to 10,000 jobs over the next eight years. Up to 10,000, despite not even a single megawatt being installed off the Spanish coast.

“Based on prudent criteria and not taking into account the operating phase of the wind farms, between 9,000 and 10,000 jobs could be created. These estimates also do not include the development of offshore wind energy in Spain, which would be a determining factor for these figures to rise significantly.”

This is the main conclusion of the report “Offshore wind energy business opportunities in the Spanish maritime sector”: a study that concludes 10,000 jobs could be created in Spain through the European offshore wind sector. Furthermore, the study reveals that this figure “could increase substantially as from 2020 due to the expected growth in the Spanish offshore wind sector”.

“Offshore wind energy business opportunities in the Spanish maritime sector” is more than 130 pages long and was presented in January by the Spanish Maritime Cluster, an organisation that comprises “Spanish industries, services and economic activities related to the sea” and whose members include, among others: Acciona, Gamesa, Iberdrola, Ingeteam, Navantia, Sener, Santander Group, the Spanish Federation of Fisheries, Ports of the State (Ministry of Development), the Naval Sector Board or Gerencia del Sector Naval (Ministry of Industry), the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness) and the trade unions UGT and Comisiones Obreras.

For additional information:
www.clustermaritimo.es