On the 9th of January, WindFloat Atlantic had the opportunity to attend and participate to “Sea: Energy and Sustainability Conference”, an initiative part of the series of conferences “Water Design Views | Blue Design Alliance”, a program that aims to contribute to the valorisation of water, ocean, and river resources, co-promoted by the Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo (ESTG-IPVC) and other national Higher Education institutions, under the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP).
The conference counted with the presence of important authorities and figures related with the sector, such as the Secretary of State for the Sea, Jose Maria Costa, who outlined that within the Portuguese government objectives are: to put the Portuguese sea on the international agenda, to invest in renewable energy and ocean technologies, and to build a sustainable blue economy. With the great ambition of placing Portugal “in a position of international leadership”, he added.
Luís Nobre, Mayor of Viana do Castelo, highlighted the possible installation of the International Investigation Centre of all sea activity in the city, and the existing contact between the sea sector and the municipality, which may benefit from the 12 activities linked to the sector, expected to appear in the short term, related to metal-mechanics, naval industry, and seaport.
Following this line, Carlos Rodrigues, president of the Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo, highlighted the opportunity that represents for the IPVC, as “it (the IPVC) has to be aware and follow all the dynamics around the sea economy, in order to be an asset to its implementation and consolidation in the county and in the region”, commented Rodrigues.
To finalize this constructive journey, the conference had two round tables, “Sea and Sustainability” and “Sea and Energy”, where one of our team members, Daniel Ribeiro, Asset Manager for WindFloat Atlantic, had the pleasure to participate together with Miguel Silva, from CorPower Ocean, and João Abrantes, from the IPVC Research Unit, ProMetheus, as moderator.
It was the opportunity for us to highlight the importance of renewable energy and its future potential within the country, through the example of our floating offshore wind farm project, WindFloat Atlantic. Daniel Ribeiro had the opportunity to introduce our project and how we are working with the municipality and the region, aiming to promote economic and labour opportunities, while supplying clean energy to 25,000 Portuguese households and avoiding the emission of 33,000 tons of CO2.
