The Med Wind Floating Offshore Wind Park is proposed to be developed in the Strait of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea.
The 2.8GW wind park is expected to generate around 9 Terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity, enough to power more than three million Italian households. This will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 2.7 million tonnes.
Recommended White Papers
Renexia, a subsidiary of Toto Group, is the developer of the Med Wind Floating Offshore Wind Park.
The construction phase of the project is expected to commence by 2025, subject to receiving all permits. The commercial operations are slated to begin on 1 January 2026.
Location and Site details
The Med Wind Floating Offshore Wind Park will be located in the Strait of Sicily. The location will be around 60km from the Italian coast.
The wind park will cover an area of 850km2.
Project details
The Med Wind Floating Offshore Wind Park will be situated offshore in a region where the depth of the seabed ranges 300m-600m.
The project will comprise 190 floating wind turbines.
Each wind turbine will have a power generating capacity of 14.7MW. The turbines will have cameras and radars installed to track and record the movements of cetaceans in the Mediterranean Sea and for monitoring the paths of the migratory birds.
The maximum overall height of the wind turbines will be 256m.
The wind turbine structures will be fixed with an advanced anchoring system instead of securing them to the seabed. This will help in reducing the environmental impact.
The wind farm layout was also selected to ensure minimum impact on the environment and on human activities.
Additionally, the facility will feature tailored resting spots for migratory birds, while the floating bases of the wind turbines are expected to gradually transform into artificial reefs to attract molluscs and small fish that feed on plankton.
The electricity generated by the farm will be collected by offshore substations and evacuated through export cables.
Once in the production phase, the Med Wind Project will enable the closure of three plants that are contributing to climate change.
Contractors involved
In September 2022, Fugro secured a survey contract for the Med Wind Floating Offshore Wind Park by Renexia.
Under the terms of the contract, Fugro will provide detailed marine geophysical and environmental surveys to collect comprehensive geo-data for the project and along the two proposed export cable corridors.
In December 2022, Renexia selected Technip Energies for Front-end Engineering and Design (FEED) works of the wind park. The scope of the contract includes FEED for 190 floating foundations and moorings for the wind turbines and conceptual design for the floating offshore substations.
According to Technip Energies, the design of the floating foundations of the offshore wind park will be based on its floater technology INO15.
INO15 is a three-column semi-submersible floater suitable for large series production.
Oceanographic study
An oceanographic study of the site is being conducted by Renexia in collaboration with Italian Navy and the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn Research Institute in Naples. This is aimed to protect the ecosystem around the location.
Once complete, the study will be shared with scientific communities to facilitate further assessment and preserve the ecosystem.
Italy’s PNIEC Plan
Under a plan for developing renewable energies (PNIEC), Italy aims to meet 55% of national power consumption requirements from renewable sources by 2030. The current share of renewable energies is 39%.
The development of the Med Wind Park is aligned with the goal.
The wind park will increase national wind energy production by 50%, accounting for more than half of the growth specified by PNEIC for the wind sector by 2025.
