Eni partners with Simply Blue to boost Italian offshore wind pipeline

Plenitude and Simply Blue said their partnership’s first two floating offshore wind projects – the 1300MW Messapia Messapia (1300MW) Offshoreoff Otranto, Apulia, Italy, Europe Click to see full details and 1100MW Krimisa Krimisa (1100MW) Offshoreoff Crotone, Calabria, Italy, Europe Click to see full details in the southern Italian regions of Apulia and Calabria respectively – are expected to total 2.4GW. The developers have already applied to the authorities to build them.  

It follows Eni’s announcement last April that it had partnered with greenfield fund manager Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) to develop two floating Italian wind farms off the coast of Sicily and Sardinia with combined capacity of 750MW. 

The Messapia project is located about 30km off the Otranto coast and forecast annual power generation of about 3.8TWh, the companies said. 

Instead, the Krimisa project is located about 45 kilometers off the coast of Crotone with an estimated annual power production of up to 3.5TWh. 

The companies stated they would work together with local communities and key industry players to develop innovative technological solutions and “consolidate the Italian floating offshore wind supply chain”.

“With this partnership Plenitude expands its portfolio of floating wind projects in line with its target of reaching 15GW of renewable capacity by 2030 and reaffirms its commitment to creating an offshore wind supply chain in Italy,” said Plenitude CEO Stefano Goberti. “For Plenitude, offshore wind is a key contributor to the energy transition path and the achievement of our 2040 carbon neutrality targets to provide fully decarbonized energy to our customers.”

Sam Roch-Perks, CEO of Simply Blue, said that Italy “represents a big opportunity in floating wind”. 

Italian developer Renexia last year commissioned the 30MW fixed-bottom wind farm Beleolico in the port of Taranto, Italy’s only operational offshore wind farm. 

However, potential for floating offshore wind farms is seen as higher in Italy, given the lack of suitable shallow sites and the stronger wind resources further from the coast.