Huge turbines rising almost at water level from the open sea and generating electricity that feeds the national grid, reaching our homes, offices and (electric) cars. This is what an offshore wind farm looks like — already operational for decades in other countries, particularly in northern Europe — and one that could become a reality off the Italian coastline too. The conditional is necessary because, apart from one first confirmed installation off the coast of Taranto, for now everything else is still at the planning stage for the other possible facilities, which could not come online for another five or six years.

In recent weeks, attention has returned to two projects in particular: the first, to be built off the coast of Rimini and developed by the company Wind 2000; the second, called 7Seas Med, is instead planned for the Strait of Sicily, off Marsala, and once completed will be the first floating wind farm in the Mediterranean.

59 offshore wind turbines for a maximum of 300 MW off Rimini

Last March, the authorisation process for the installation got under way in earnest, with an application for a state property concession submitted to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, while in 2019 the company had already received authorisation from Terna to increase the grid connection from 200 to 330 megawatts (MW).

The next step will be to obtain authorisations from the other ministries involved (Mise and Mattm) and a favourable opinion from the Environmental Impact Assessment, before reaching the single authorisation. "Unfortunately the authorisation process will take a long time yet — it should take no more than two years, even accounting for all aspects of the Environmental Impact Assessment," Simone Togni, president of Anev, the National Wind Energy Association, explains to LifeGate. "On average, however, it takes five to six years."

Francesco Ferrante @FranFerrante

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Un grande progetto di #eolico off shore a largo di #Rimini accanto alle piattaforme: 300 MW di vento

Vediamo quanto ci vorrà e se verrà mai autorizzato

#semplificazioni #rilancio #rinnovabili #GreenNewDeal

@AnevEolico

♥ 42💬 7 12 giu 2020 · Apri su X →

The installation, which has already attracted the first objections from Lega and Italia Nostra, is planned for the Adriatic Sea between the coastlines of Rimini and Cattolica. It will take the shape of three arcs, two of which will form an ogive. This configuration was chosen to reduce the amount of state-owned sea bed used by the project. The turbines will be spaced 680 metres apart and installed on seabeds ranging from 13 to 32 metres in depth. According to what can be read in the project, 59 wind turbines are planned, capable of developing a maximum combined output of 330 MW.

25 floating turbines off Marsala

Another project presented before the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, and one that will see an investment of 741 million euros, is the one developed by Danish company Copenhagen Offshore Partners with the backing of the Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners fund.

7Seas Med, as the project is named, will consist of 25 floating turbines of 10 MW each and will be located more than 35 kilometres from Marsala and the same distance from the Egadi Islands, making it invisible from the coast. "The programme plans to begin construction in 2023," designer Luigi Severini, who also designed the offshore wind farm in Taranto, told Ansa.

Indeed, to tell the whole story, the first and only offshore wind farm currently under construction is the one off Taranto: the Beleolico, an installation with a total nominal output of 30 MW made up of ten turbines of 3 MW each, as confirmed by the president of Anev as well.

What is holding back the development of wind energy in Italy

Why has wind energy returned to the conversation in recent weeks? According to Togni, "at this moment there is a certain buzz because we are waiting for the Fer 2 decree, which should provide incentives for less competitive renewable sources, including offshore wind." Doubts remain, however, given that wind energy is still struggling to take off in Italy.

"We are living in a historical moment in which there is a disconnect between political intentions and the complete absence of instruments to achieve them," Togni points out. Consider that, according to the targets set out in the Pniec (National Energy and Climate Plan), offshore wind should reach 300 MW by 2025, tripling by 2030.

What is missing, however, are "the instruments and implementing decrees needed to achieve them. What is missing is a simplification of the authorisation process — a situation that makes it very difficult for Italy to meet the targets declared by the government itself."

Today in Italy we have reached 10 GW of installed capacity, which could be more than doubled by 2030. According to Togni, by making the most of existing wind infrastructure and also investing in offshore, it would be possible to reach 25 GW of installed capacity — contributing in this way to decarbonising the energy sector and further reducing our country's CO2 emissions.