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Italy produces first offshore wind power

Rome, Italy - After the expansion of offshore wind energy in the North and Baltic Seas, the Mediterranean is increasingly becoming the focus of offshore wind energy use in southern Europe. Now, the first offshore wind power has been fed into the electricity grid in Italy.

Italy is focusing on green energy and wants to cover a total of 55 percent of its electricity consumption with renewable energies by 2030. A decisive role in achieving Italy's energy goals is played by wind energy on land, but also on the Mediterranean Sea.

The Beleolico offshore wind farm in the south-east of the country (Apulia) is the first wind farm in the Mediterranean Sea an consists of 10 wind turbines with a capacity of 3 MW each. Located about 100 metres off the coast and in front of the port of Taranto (Porto di Taranto), it is actually a nearshore wind farm. The first of 10 turbines was installed at the beginning of February 2022. The wind farm with a capacity of 30 MW will generate about 58 million kWh of electricity annually. Renexia,the operating company, is a subsidiary of the Italian Toto Group.

The Beleolico offshore wind farm has now reached a milestone in early June 2022, feeding the first wind power into the Italian grid, according to European grid operator (Entso-E) data.

Italy's Renexia is also planning to build the huge Med Wind floating offshore wind farm in the Mediterranean Sea in the south. The wind farm with 190 floating wind turbines (each with a capacity of 14.7 MW) is to be built 60 km from the coast in the Strait of Sicily and will have a total capacity of 2,800 MW. Renexia estimates the expected annual electricity production of the Med Wind offshore wind farm at around 9 billion kWh. According to the plans, construction is scheduled to start in 2025, with the first offshore wind power to be generated and fed into the grid in early 2026.



Source: IWR Online, Jun 06 2022