Eni-led GreenIT and Dane CIP add gigascale to swelling Italian floating wind pipeline

Plan for three new projects grows partners' asset base off southern European country to 3GW, as regional 'chasing pack' gathers momentum in offshore race

A sunset view of an floating oil platform along the Tirreno sea coast in front of the city of Civitavecchia, north of Rome, in 2011
A sunset view of an floating oil platform along the Tirreno sea coast in front of the city of Civitavecchia, north of Rome, in 2011Foto: Reuters/Scanpix

Eni-led GreenIT and Denmark’s Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) have plans to develop three floating wind farms off Italy, taking the partnership’s project pipeline off the southern European country to 3GW and adding momentum to the burgeoning regional play.

Production from the trio, being built in the Tyrrenian Sea to the west of the city of Rome, when added to the existing 1GW GreenIT-CIP has in-development further out in the Mediterranan , would represent yearly production of 7TWh, supply for 2.5m households, once all arrays are in operation, currently slated as “between 2028-2031”.

“The partnership strengthens its commitment to the Italian offshore wind floating industry with [these] three new projects located off the coasts of Latium and Sardinia. The three wind farms make the consortium one of the largest developers in the sector in Italy,” said the pair in a statement.

“This new agreement represents an additional strategic step and a firm commitment to strengthening the industry in Italy, providing a significant contribution towards a low carbon future as well as encouraging the development of the local supply chain.”

One of GreenIT-CIP’s new deepwater projects is being built off the coast of Civitavecchia, with a planned capacity of up to 540MW; the two others, off the coast of Olbia, would have a combined 1.5GMW output.

GreenIT-CIP floating wind projects in development off ItalyFoto: GreenIT/CIP

GreenIT – part-owned by Eni’s Plenitude unit – and CIP have developed these latest wind farms via a joint working team with Copenhagen Offshore Partners, NiceTechnology and 7 Seas, the latter two Italy-based companies.

Green Giraffe advised 7 Seas and NiceTechnology on their partnership with CIP, Plenitude, and CDP Equity.

Italy has one one operational offshore wind farm, Renexia’s 30MW Beleolico, brought online last year, but a host of developers have been building a pipeline of deepwater projects, with the country dubbed one of a ‘chasing pack’ of second generation floating wind markets with technical potential of near 4TW.
Along with the latest GreenIT-CIP projects, other developers with oars in the deepwater off Italy include Galileo-Hope, which plans to construct a 1.1GW floating wind plant in the Adriatic Sea, AvenHexicon, which was just secured 7GW of grid connection points from Italian transmission system operator Terna; and a tie-up between Falck and BlueFloat.
Italy is also in the frame to soon be home to the world’s largest floating wind-powered hydrogen hub, following the signing of a deal between developer Aquaterra Energy and Seawind Ocean Technology to build a 3.2GW project dubbed HyMed.
Consultancy DNV calculates floating projects currently make up over 15% of the total offshore wind deployment in the pipeline for switch-on by mid-century, equal to some 264GW of the 1,750GW slated to be installed.
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Published 22 March 2023, 11:26Updated 22 March 2023, 15:55
ItalyCIPCopenhagen Infrastructure PartnersCopenhagen Offshore PartnersEni