Evaluation of maritime spatial planning for offshore wind energy in the Canary Islands: A comparative analysis

Abstract

Following a European Union directive, European countries with territorial waters have developed their maritime spatial planning (MSP). One of the objectives of MSP is to identify areas with high potential for the development of offshore wind energy (OWE). In one of Spain's maritime regions, the official planning of suitable areas for OWE generation differs significantly from the results of previous scientific studies. The region is the Canary Islands, an archipelago of small islands with a high population density and land scarcity. The aim of this study is to identify suitable marine areas for OWE in this region and to compare them with the suitable sites identified in the official MSP and with previous academic studies. This work adopts the framework proposed by the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory for OWE assessment. The results show that less than 1% of the marine area can be used for OWE generation. One conclusion of this study is that the official MSP of the Canary Islands territory includes marine areas that are not suitable for OWE generation. Another conclusion is that deciding on suitable sites for OWE should involve negotiation between stakeholders and allow for some flexibility in marine use.