Date: July 26
Uruguay is taking significant steps in the development of offshore wind energy. The National Administration of Fuels, Alcohol and Portland (ANCAP) is perfecting its business model for the installation of offshore wind farms and the production of green hydrogen and its derivatives. The objective is to take advantage of ANCAP’s experience in offshore energy exploration to tender ten offshore blocks of 500 km2 each. These blocks have an average potential of 2 to 3 GW of renewable capacity, with winds ranging between 8.5 meters per second at 100 meters and 9 m/s at 150m, with factors greater than 55%.
The president of ANCAP, Alejandro Stipanicic, confirmed during an event that the call for the areas for the evaluation of offshore wind projects will take place “at the end of the year.” According to Stipanicic, ANCAP is working offshore based on models similar to those already known to oil companies in the world. These companies are the ones that promote large investments in renewable energies, since they have the capacity, technology and minimal risk aversion to face this type of venture.
Offshore operations are complex and require specialized infrastructure. Just like you might have an oil rig to produce offshore oil and gas, there might be a rig that has an electrolyser or electrical substations to collect power from a grid of wind turbines.
ANCAP held the first Road Show of the H2U Round in the city of Copenhagen, where it presented the characteristics of this call and identified the opportunities that lie ahead. More than 50 entities have already shown interest in H2 and renewables in Uruguay.
“We need to ensure access to energy and it is better that there are countries like Uruguay that can be providers of cleaner energy that replace the consumption of coal to generate electricity in China or Europe,” said Stipanicic.
The contract model foresees sub-periods of 2 to 4 years linked to the evaluation of the projects, such as studies with existing reports, acquisition and processing of new data and the pilot production of H2 or the detail of the information collected; up to a period of approximately 30 years for the development and production of H2.
In order to carry out this entire process and make the most of the experience of the oil and gas sector brought to renewables, ANCAP is working with the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining and the Ministry of the Environment to make regulations that contemplate and complement certain actions other.
Source: Energía Estratégica
