Italy looks to 450MW of offshore wind to spark green hybrid development

Oil and gas contractor Saipem has signed a pact with two clean energy companies to co-develop a project combining 450MW of offshore wind capacity with floating solar PV technology and green hydrogen in the Italian Adriatic Sea.

Along with renewable energy developers Agnes and Qint’X, Saipem aims to install 56 turbines on fixed foundations across two sites off the coast of Ravenna in north-east Italy.

Gian Luca Vaglio, business project developer at Qint’x told Windpower Monthly that the partners aim to start the permitting process in the next month and hope to complete the project within three or four years, but conceded this timeline is “optimistic”.

If completed, it could be Italy’s first major offshore wind farm.

The 450MW Ravenna Ravenna (450MW) Offshoreoff Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, Europe Click to see full details project would be installed across two sites – one 14.8km from the shore and the other 22.2km from the shore.

With 56 turbines and 450MW total capacity, each turbine would have a power rating of approximately 8MW. Vaglio told Windpower Monthly the project partners were considering “two or three” possible turbine suppliers, but did not name them.

Saipem subsidiary Moss Maritime would provide floating solar technology for the project, and the partners would also look to leverage existing oil and gas infrastructure in the Adriatic Sea to produce and transport green hydrogen.

The Adriatic Sea is shallower and gets deeper much more gradually than other Italian seas, Qint’X’s Vaglio added. Other Italian sites would therefore require floating technology due to their greater depths. 

For example, Saipem is considering the potential for floating offshore wind projects off Sardinaia and Sicily, while Copenhagen Offshore Partners is developing a 250MW floating offshore wind farm off the coast of Sicily.