Cantabria Government through Grupo SODERCAN along with Cantabria University organizes the first Conference & Exhibition ”Cantabria Sea of Innovation Conference 2010” to be held December 2-3, 2010 at Santander Exhibition and Congress Palace.

1. Dear friend,
Cantabria Government through Grupo SODERCAN along with Cantabria University organizes the first
Conference & Exhibition ”Cantabria Sea of Innovation Conference 2010” to be held December 2-3, 2010
at Santander Exhibition and Congress Palace.
Why we organize a conference on this topic?
In 2009 wind marine energy 584MW were installed worldwide, a 56% more compared to the figures
available in the previous year. 2,400 MW are already installed and connected to the network, there are
43 offshore wind farms in 9 European countries. By 2011, 1,500 MW are expected to be installed.
Germany and UK are leading this bet, they are designing a long feed in tariffs, which will help to discern
the profitability of projects. At the same time, these countries are setting up test centers and
technological facilities where promoters or developers, turbine manufacturers and the supply chain
providers could test their new technologies. Their budgeting effort is evident.
Facing this situation, turbine manufacturers are designing new prototypes specifically designed for the
marine environment (not adapted from land environment), having the objective to reduce both, the cost
per megawatt per turbine, and their maintenance costs.
At the same time, there is a market linked to wind or marine energy promoters or developers trying to
significantly reduce the costs connected to parks’ installation and logistics, i.e. the "balance of plant",
which is about 70% of parks’ total costs, being necessary and feasible to substantially reduce its costs
A Total of € 8,000 million is estimated as an investment in this sector till 2020 in order to improve its
expectations
In short, if we add together regional, national and European research funds and grants, the
amount committed to offshore wind energy would be very high
Offshore and wave energy, are they a reliable bet?
The answer is categorical and generally accepted; the offshore wind energy is one of best promising
technologies, its market potential in terms of available resources, and its strength and predictability,
make it an energy for the future. Moreover, Europe is interested in maintaining and boosting its
leadership in technological development on this field.
Which weaknesses or threats are involved?
This initial assessment does not mean we should discard possible threats. In the short term, parks with
depths below 35 meters are being set up and financed.
However, the area available with these features and good wind resources is limited and mainly located
in both the North Sea and Baltic Sea. For greater depths, size and weight of the components require
more sophisticated and bulky foundations, which cause a large rise of the cost per megawatts installed.
Only this type of foundation can be a 30% out of the park’s total cost, depending on the depth and
distance from shore. This investment can reach 3.5 billion euros per MW, outnumbering the investment
made in land by three. There fore, this ratio should be reduced by increasing parks’ volume and size,
which, at the same time, requires a great amount of liquidity funds in a moment when the banking sector
is avoiding risky circumstances. Thus, the sector still has hurdles to overcome.
In addition, it is generally agreed by the industry that floating eolic energy is an alternative in the medium
term, i.e. in 2017 or 2020. The experts think so as a consequence of economic and technological
aspects derived from very few current experiences. This assessment underlies the lack of current
interest on the part of this sector’s major manufacturers and industry promoters, who are focused on
short-term business. Their limited human and technical resources are assigned to projects within the
next two or three years in shallow water.
Facing this situation, the Conference will help to find answers to all the questions arising in the sector.
Partners:
Organizers:
www.seaofinnovation.com

2. EWEA. Gloria Rodrigues.
GL - GARRAD HASSAN. Andrew Henderson.
IDERMAR. Manuel Pérez.
BLUE H. Martin Jakubowski.
SWAY. Michal Forland.
STATOIL – HYWIND. Sjur E. Bratland.
PRINCIPLE POWER – WINDFLOAT.Craig Andrus.
…
OPT.- Angus Norman.
Wedge Global.- Francisco Garcia.
HIDROFLOT.- Ricardo Prats.
E.ON Climate & Renewables.- Amaan Lafayette
ACCIONA.- Raúl Manzanas.
OCEANLIDER: IBERINCO.- Juan Amate.
ORECCA.- Jochen Bard.
…
INSTITUTO DE HIDRÁULICA DE CANTABRIA.
Iñigo Losada. Cesar Vidal.
FRAUNHOFER. – Jochen Bard.
CENER. - Félix Avia.
SINTEF Group: NOWITECH: John O.Tande
APPA Marina.- Roberto Legaz
AEE.- Alberto Ceña.
…
www.seaofinnovation.com
You are kindly invited to visit Cantabria and participate in the Sea of Innovation Conference 2010, the first international conference
devoted to the issue of floating marine energy.
Yours sincerely,
Francisco Royano
Director General de Innovación y Estrategia Corporativa
GRUPO SODERCAN
5 good reasons for attending the Conference:
• To Get a deeper knowledge in floating marine energy market and its development.
• To Listen to the leading companies betting on floating marine energy
• To Discuss which are the challenges faced by the sector with experts
• To Analyze the possible interaction between floating wind energy and ocean energy (wave energy)
• To Identify how these projects are financially structured, and which are the aspects that lead to their profitability
We intend to organize a meeting place, where experts and public can exchange information and discuss. Some of the topics to be
tackled are:
• Is floating marine energy an alternative in the short, medium and long term?
• Which are the key factors in order to boost its implementation?
• Which industry manufacturers will bet on this technology?
• New markets: USA, China, Canada, Japan. Grounded or floating technology?
• What should we do in Europe facing the existence of new markets?
• Which are the challenges in strategy and technology for the supply chain?
• Who assumes the financial risks of the projects?
• Which are the ways for cooperation with market players?
• Which is the general situation of available financial resources for offshore floating wind energy?
Those and other topics will be discussed in different round tables with relevant international speakers
and experts in this field, amongst many others: