OES Annual Report 2012 - Ocean Energy Systems

72
SPAIN
José Luis Villate
TECNALIA
This report has been prepared with the collaboration of APPA-Marina, the ocean energy section of the Spanish Renewable Energy
Association. APPA-Marina represents the voice of the Spanish ocean energy industry with two main objectives: to promote an
appropriate legal framework and to facilitate a successful technology development, both with the final goal of putting ocean energy
as a relevant contributor to the renewable energy production in Spain by 2020.
INTRODUCTION
The Spanish Renewable Energy Plan 2011-2020, approved in November 2011, includes targets for ocean
energy (100 MW of installed power by 2020). However, these targets seem now difficult to achieve since
the Spanish Government suspended feed-in tariff support to all the new renewable energy installations
from January 2012.
Despite the temporary situation regarding feed-in tariff support, the Spanish ocean energy industry is
progressing with several projects in different stages of development. The most advanced one is the Mutriku
OWC plant, which has fulfilled one year of operation with the production of 200MWh. Furthermore, two
open sea test facilities, bimep and PLOCAN, are progressing and both of them are expected to be in
operation in 2013.
OCEAN ENERGY POLICY
Strategy and National Targets
The current ocean energy policy in Spain was approved in November 2011 with the inclusion of ocean
energy for the first time in the “Renewable Energy Plan 2011-2020”. This plan includes the following targets:
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The first 10MW of installed ocean power are expected by 2016.
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An annual growth rate of 20-25MW between 2016 and 2020 is expected to accumulate to 100MW by 2020.
The plan foresees an important growth of ocean energy after 2020 with the following phases:
1. Reliability confirmation (2010-2015): simulation, modelling and prototypes will be key aspects. Cost of
the electricity is not a major issue during this phase.
2. Technology development (2016-2020): demonstration of full-scale prototypes with generation costs
between €21 and €33 per MWh.
3. Technology consolidation (2021-2030): commercial deployment of ocean power plants with a cost
reduction of the electricity down to €7-€15 per MWh.
Spain is part, together with Portugal, France, Ireland and UK, of the Atlantic Forum, which together with
the Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE) of the European Commission is
developing an action plan for the Atlantic Ocean region. This action plan will have possible projects for
funding to support the blue economy and develop innovative ideas to face common challenges. Marine
renewable energy will be one of the key sectors to be considered in this Atlantic Strategy. In this context,
Bilbao hosted one of the workshops to contribute to the action plan and OES was represented with the
participation of the Spanish alternate as the moderator of a session on marine renewable session.
One Spanish region has defined specific strategies and targets for ocean energy: the Basque Government
approved in December 2011 its Energy Strategy for 2020 which includes a specific initiative to speed up
technology and commercial development of weave energy and sets a target of 60MW by 2020.
ANNUAL
REPORT 2012