SEPI Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales

The Capital Energy Group, which promotes renewable energies, and SEPIDES, a wholly-owned company of the state-owned holding company Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales (SEPI), have reached an agreement for promoting sea-based wind farms on the Spanish coast.

The agreement is based on the acquisition by SEPIDES of a 10% shareholding in the capital of the company CAPITAL ENERGY OFFSHORE (CEOWIND), which belongs to CAPITAL ENERGY Group.

CEOWIND was incorporated on 2005 in order to promote, build and manage sea-based wind farms, and it has a large number of projects, as well as a team with a large experience in this industry.

This agreement is the result of the passing of the Royal Decree which regulates sea-based wind farms and which was approved last July, 20th by a Council of Ministers which dealt exclusively on the authorization of measures which promote the fight against climate change.

This Royal Decree sets up a bidding procedure among the wind-farm promoters for reserving the different areas for carrying out the corresponding studies. Once these areas have been awarded, the promoters must carry out those studies which they consider are required in order to analyze the projects´ feasibility and overcoming all the Administration requirements for their execution.

The growing environmental and energy awareness, together with the commitments assumed for emission abatement, have pushed many countries towards the exploration of new sources of renewable energy. Among them stands out the sea-based wind energy, which currently appears as one of the most dependable renewable energies for reaching the goals set. All these requirements have provoked a growing interest on sea-based wind energy, whose first wind-farm was set up on Denmark in 1991. Currently there are almost 1,000 MW operating in Europe, and a further 10,000 MW have been authorized in such countries as Germany, Sweden, Ireland, the Low Countries, United Kingdom and Denmark.

The sea-based wind energy industry in Spain is being developed, and it is to be expected that this development shall be boosted by the Royal Decree publication. Currently there are only a number of sea-based wind farms under development, among which CEOWIND has a significant participation.

In Spain, the wind energy has proven to be a sound and dependable technology, capable of contributing in a significant and efficient way to the country´s energy supply, and can be regarded as the most developed of the renewable energy sources.

Sea-based wind energy can be seen as the natural extension of the spectacular development experienced by the wind energy in our country, a development which has put us on the second place at world level from the point of the installed power.