The European project Blue Supply Chain: Enhancing the role of companies in the deployment of offshore wind energy has begun this week in Gran Canaria, with a meeting that brought together 17 private entities and public administrations from Spain, Madeira, Cape Verde, Mauritania, and Ghana.
This initiative, which includes the participation of the Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands (PLOCAN), is endowed with 2.87 million euros from the Interreg MAC 2021-2027 Program, co-financed at 85% with ERDF funds. The main objective of Blue Supply Chain is to promote innovation in the marine energy sectors.
To this end, among other actions, it will focus on disseminating the benefits and opportunities offered by this field, in order to attract companies interested in diversifying their activity, as well as advancing in the management of shared uses of the spaces defined in the Maritime Space Management Plans (POEM).
PLOCAN’s director, José Joaquín Hernández Brito, said that “the Canary Islands have positioned themselves as a point of high professional training, adequate certifications, and know-how on repair processes, infrastructures, or insurance guarantees, among other processes and elements related to marine energy. Gran Canaria and Tenerife are reference hubs in the Mid-Atlantic, and from PLOCAN we develop an intense work to help companies in the improvement of these processes.”
Blue Supply Chain exemplifies a forward-looking approach to renewable energy implementation, emphasizing collaboration, innovation, and local economic development.
This initiative aims to strengthen the Canary Islands’ position in the marine renewable energy sector and foster international cooperation in the sustainable development of the Mid-Atlantic.
Project partners include, in addition to PLOCAN, FEDEPORT, the Port Authorities of Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife, ITC, PROEXCA, the Insular Energy Council of the Gran Canaria Cabildo, the Maritime Cluster of the Canary Islands (CMC), the Regional Secretariat of Agriculture, Fisheries and Environment of Madeira, and the Commercial and Industrial Association of Funchal – Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Madeira.
Associates include organizations such as Navantia, the Maritime Fishing IFP, the General Directorate of the Merchant Marine, the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Energy, and the Canary Islands Agency for Research, Innovation and Information Society (ACIISI); and representing third countries, the Chamber of Commerce of Barlavento (Cape Verde), the Maritime Port Institute of Cape Verde, the Center for Business Learning of Ghana, and the Nouadhibou Free Zone Authority of Mauritania.
