The Balearic Islands bets on green energy with the wind of the waves

The Marine and Logistics Cluster of the Balearic Islands held the Board of Directors meeting for all members where they approved the modification of the strategic proposal put forward by the Cluster to value companies, workers and promote economic and social development without forgetting the environment.

The Marine Cluster has presented the adjustments to the Strategic Plan agreed as well with the economic and social agents waiting for the pending approval by the Government of the Balearic Islands, which focuses on three fundamental pillars for the CCAA.

According to the explanation of Iolanda Piedra, president of the Marine Cluster of the Balearic Islands “we have finished the article of the marine strategy keeping in mind the economic development  of the Balearic Islands putting pymes at the center and the progress of work with quality employment. All this combined with greater respect for the environment with future generations in mind”.

The cluster is also committed to leading the Balearic Islands' Blue Economy Maritime Strategy as a development strategy so that "we are not an autonomous community that depends on coastal tourism", said Piedra. 

To this end, one of the tractor projects, located within the axis of action of Knowledge, Innovation and Transfer of the Blue Economy, is the ROE project- Renewable Ocean Energy project, promoted by the consortium made up of the Maritime and Logistics Cluster of the Balearic Islands, the University of the Balearic Islands and economic and social agents. The aim of this project is to increase the production capacity of renewable energies, as 40% of energy must be renewable by 2030 and 100% by 2050.

To this end, the ROE project will contribute to internationalizing the region with the development and generation of marine renewable energy from the wave power of the sea waves by means of 77 turbines located in 115 m2, which is known as an energy farm, located in Ciutadella.

To finance this process, on 16 January the Cluster will present the "ROEWED" project to the European Union within the Horizon Europe call, with a consortium of 7 countries, including Astilleros de Mallorca, SAMPOL Ingenierías, among others, to actively participate in the construction of these turbines that allow the construction of these energy farms.

The project has an estimated budget of 30 million euros, of which 20 million would be financed by the direct call of the EU and the rest would belong to private capital.

Piedra explained that, with this project, “the turbines will be made in the Balearic Islands, it generates employment and we will screen the islands at an international level”. “The energy that we suggest is from the Balearic Islands and the quality employment with specific training for male and female workers will be in the Balearic Islands".

In this frame of internationalization and financing is also found the presentation of the ‘convocatoria de NEOTEC’, a programme of support to the creation and consolidation of the companies of the technological base and and with high growth potential in Spain. The main objective of the NEOTEC call is to promote the birth and consolidation of innovative companies in the technological field.

Within this call, the company ROE has been one of the 16 winners of the Neotec Women Entrepreneurs 2023 call. The project, which has received funding of €325,000, is aimed at developing predictive sensors and Big Data in the turbines already tested so that they can be converted from simple to smart turbines.

As for other financial aid, the president explained the presentation to the financial aid programme in the Balearic Islands "Incentive 3", which is part of the programme known as "PITEIB", Plan de Impulso del Turismo, la Economía Digital y la Innovación en Baleares (Plan to boost tourism, the digital economy and innovation in the Balearic Islands).

Incentive 3", within PITEIB, aims to encourage investment, innovation and economic development in the region, focusing on areas related to tourism, the digital economy and technology. It is designed to support companies and entrepreneurs who wish to carry out projects that contribute to the sustainable development and competitiveness of the Balearic Islands in these fields. This project, which has also been accepted, will have a total budget of 1,100,000 €, with the joint participation of the University of the Balearic Islands, the company ROE and the Balearic Islands Marine Cluster.