'Thousands of jobs' | Falck and BlueFloat launch new gigascale floating wind giant off Italy
Developers start local stakeholder engagement for 975MW Tibula Energia off island of Sardinia, in latest move by the partners in nascent Mediterranean play
Developer partners Falck Renewables and BlueFloat Energy have begun local stakeholder engagement for a near-1GW floating wind project off coast of Italian island of Sardinia, in the latest move by the pair in the fast-emerging sector play in the Mediterranean.
Once online, the 975MW Tibula Energia project, planned to be built in the deeps of the Tyrrhenian Sea some 25-40km off the north-east coast of the island, would generate some 3.4TWh of power production annually, sufficient to supply over 900,000 European households.
“To involve the north-eastern communities of [Sardinia] before starting the [Italian governmental] ministerial authorisation process, the developers are having a number of meetings with local stakeholders to present the project proposal in detail and inviting their feedback which will be included in the final design,” said Ksenia Balanda, Tibula Energia’s technical director.
“We feel that the value of our projects is measured by their ability to benefit local communities. Through dialogue and engaging with local people, we aim to create a development model focused on collaboration with local communities to support their goals.”
Tibula Energia would create “thousands of stable jobs” in the medium-long term and as many as 3,200 full-time positions during the manufacturing, assembly and construction stages, as well as more than 180 for plant maintenance after the wind farm is in operation.
The wind farm would be built around 62 floating units fitted with 15MW turbines that would be “almost imperceptible to the human eye from the coast”, the companies noted.
Meetings with local community groups will be carried out “over the next few weeks”, focused on presenting “the real economic and development benefits” of the project, including development of the local supply chain and the island’s main industrial ports, and wider “sustainable growth of local communities, such as plant co-ownership schemes or support for community-led projects”.
Data collection on local sea and wind conditions, environmental impacts and industrial infrastructure readiness has been underway for the last year, said the companies, with the application for a maritime concession submitted on 6 May and the Italian Ministry of Ecological Transition approval process expected to begin “in the next few weeks”.