ACS, through its industrial subsidiary Cobra, will invest 450 million euros in bringing to the coasts of Aberdeen, in Scotland, what will be the largest maritime wind farm with floating technology in the world, which is expected to enter into operation in 2020, according to the company. The project, in which the Spanish engineering company Sener is also participating, forms part of the bid that Cobra, the subsidiary of the group chaired by Florentino Perez, is making for investment in constructing new installations for the generation of renewable energy.
Cobra recently launched the first phase of this installation, in which the company controls 90% of the capital. The remaining 10% is divided between various Scottish partners. The wind farm Kincardine, which is being constructed some 15 kilometre offshore from the Scottish coast, will count on a potential of 50 megawatts (MW) by 2020.
The installation has a guaranteed tariff of 3.5 ROCs (Renewable Obligation Certificates), a term which is equivalent to 190€ per megawatt per hour. The ACS subsidiary has already put into operation the first phase of the project, a turbine supplied by Vestas with 2MW potential. The energy which it generates is being exported to the British transmission network.
Cobra expects to continue adding five more floating positions to this first turbine, each with a potential of 9.6 MW, until eventually reaching the 50 MW the project will have. The ACS industrial subsidiary is intellectual owner of a patent for floating technology constructed from concrete and is evaluating the possibility of using it in some of the positions which will be constructed in the second phase of this farm. In the first phase a metal floating technology has been used.
The ACS project counts on the participation of the Spanish engineering firm Sener, which is responsible for the supervision of the construction of the floating platforms, the analysis of the technical viability of the mounting of the aerogenerators and the provision of technical assistance in monitoring the wind farm.
