Visit of the Portuguese ambassador to PLOCAN expresses valuable cooperation in Blue Economy

The Portuguese ambassador to Spain, João Mira-Gomes, and the director of PLOCAN, José Joaquín Hernández Brito, have highlighted the valuable Spanish-Portuguese cooperation in the field of Blue Economy, and the importance of a joint collaboration towards African countries and Latin America, during the visit of the Portuguese diplomat to the onshore facilities of PLOCAN in Taliarte.

João Mira-Gomes visited PLOCAN accompanied by the sub-delegate of the Government in Las Palmas, Teresa Mayans, the consul of Portugal in Las Palmas, Joaquín Juliá Quevedo, the first secretary of the Portuguese embassy in Spain, Pedro Marcelo Curto, and the attaché of the Portuguese embassy in Spain, Filipa Soares.

The director of PLOCAN pointed out the great cooperation between PLOCAN and Portuguese entities. 64 percent of the projects executed by PLOCAN have had Portuguese partners and the relationship with Portugal related to projects, ocean observation networks and entities (e.g. Air Centre) is intense and continuous.

The ambassador explained the importance for Portugal of having a Ministry of the Sea that is exclusively dedicated to ocean management matters.

Hernández Brito highlighted that PLOCAN works towards the vision of the European Strategy on marine renewable energies that proposes to achieve 300 GW production by 2050 and reported that currently 45 European projects are managed with the objective of promoting specific economic activity and consolidating the value chain in the Canary Islands. In relation to hydrogen, the objective of PLOCAN is to achieve the offshore hydrogen production once the technology is already prepared, and also to study the regulations and standards for its implementation.

He also highlighted the great opportunities that open up in Europe and the need for support from the State to advance on this point and achieve a greater presence in Europe. He praised the Portuguese strategy that allows the country to be among the most innovative.

On the other hand, the validation of technologies developed in the test site of PLOCAN was compared with the validation developed by Portugal in the test site of Aguçadoura, which has hosted floating wind power demonstration projects which are now operational and supply energy to the Portuguese electrical grid.

In this area, the Portuguese model that uses port areas for Blue Economy tests was highlighted. These are areas with an established regulatory framework, where R+D+i activities are made compatible with the main activity of the port. This model enhances the role of ports in Blue Economy.

Finally, it was emphasized that companies can invest safely in Portugal due to the creation of a stable roadmap. PLOCAN seeks to advance legislation to help develop these business models.


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