Plans drawn up for 1.3GW Italian OSW farm

Project partners Renantis, an Italian energy company, and BlueFloat Energy, a Spanish offshore wind developer, have named their proposal ‘Odra Energia’.

It proposes 90 floating wind turbines for an expected maximum installed capacity of 1,300MW and an expected production of about 4TWh per year, which should power more than a million Italian households.

Construction and development is estimated to cost more than $4 billion.

They have submitted an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security and the Ministry of Culture.

Although there are 136 offshore wind projects in the pipeline, according to analyst 4C Offshore, as yet there are none actually generating electricity.

Following consultations with various stakeholders, the plans have been amended to increase the distance from shore by 30% and reduce the number of turbines in the first few rows.

“The project has been designed to maximise the production of energy from the wind resource in the open sea, where it is more abundant and stable than on land,” the partners say. “It will produce clean energy while reducing the onshore footprint that an onshore wind farm would make, limiting the footprint to infrastructure works related to the grid connection.

“Floating marine technology has a less invasive impact on the seabed compared to fixed-bottom structures thanks to the floating platforms that adapt to site conditions.”

The wind farm has been given a life expectancy of 30 years.