Italian developer Renexia launches first Europe’s offshore wind farm with Chinese turbines

Italian developer Renexia has inaugurated the country’s first offshore wind farm and first European offshore project to use Chinese turbines.

Its 30MW Beleolico Beleolico (30MW) Offshoreoff Taranto, Apulia, Italy, Europe Click to see full details wind farm in the port of Taranto in Puglia, southern Italy comprises ten of MingYang Smart Energy’s MySE 3.0-135 turbines installed on monopile foundations supplied by Spain’s Haizea Wind Group.

The project is also the first offshore wind farm in the Mediterranean Sea.

Renexia – the renewable energy division of Italian engineering firm Toto – had first proposed the project in 2008 and then secured a 25-year tariff with a price of €161.70/MWh in an Italian auction in 2016.

Industry body WindEurope congratulated the developers on inaugurating the project. However, it noted: “It took Italy 13 years to permit and build this project – they need to get faster!”

Meanwhile, environmental action group Legambiente held a banner at the inauguration ceremony reading “Sorry, I’m late”. It explained that this was to reflect the time between the project being first presented in 2008 and then commissioned in 2022.

Stefano Ciafini, national president of Legambiente, said: “The case of Taranto is unfortunately only the tip of the iceberg because in Italy there are many renewable projects blocked due to excessive bureaucracy, no from local administrations, negative opinions from the superintendencies, moratoriums of the regions, protests from local committees and some environmental associations.”

He added that he hopes that the inauguration of the Beleolico project marks a “turning point” for renewables development in Italy with accelerated permitting processes.

Other developers, including Eni and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, Falck Renewables and Bluefloat Energy, are also now targeting offshore wind projects in Italian waters.