Greenfield fund manager Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) and a joint venture controlled by Italian oil and gas group Eni announced that they are joining forces in offshore wind in Italy. They plan to develop, construct and operate two floating offshore wind farms with a combined capacity of 750MW.
Eni and CIP have already partnered to develop offshore wind projects in Poland and France. CIP is making the investment in Italian offshore wind through the CI IV fund it manages.
The first of the two Italian projects (250MW 7SeasMed ) is a roughly 250MW wind farm to be built off the coast of Marsala in Sicily, consisting of 21 turbines with capacities of about 12MW each. The second project (500MW Sardinia ) is due to consist of 42 wind turbines, also with capacities of about 12MW each, for a total of over 500MW off the south-west coast of Sardinia.
Both projects will be located over 35 kilometres from the coast, GreenIT – a joint venture of Eni (51%) and CDP Equity (49%) – and CIP stated. They aim to commission the Sicily wind farm in 2026 and the Sardinian project in 2028. The wind farms still need permitting approval.
Estimated annual output for the two wind farms stands at over 2TWh.
The two projects will be developed in Sicily with the support of Lilybeo Wind Power and in Sardinia with the support of Nice Technology and 7 Seas Wind.
The wind farms will “implement innovative technological solutions aimed at minimising environmental and visual impact, as well as promoting the development of local and national industry,” GreenIT and CIP said.
Italy’s government has been pushing the development of floating offshore wind and industry interest has been strong.
The ecological transition ministry announced last September that it had received 64 expressions of interest for floating offshore wind, including 55 from companies and consortia, following a call in June.
Italian renewable energy group Falck Renewables and floating offshore technology specialist BlueFloat Energy have been among the most vocal about their plans, already revealing a pipeline of over 4.5GW for floating offshore wind farms off the coasts of the regions of Apulia, Calabria and Sardinia.
Italian wind energy association ANEV has set a target for 5GW of floating offshore wind projects in the country by 2040. Prospects for floating offshore are seen as better than for fixed-bottom projects given Italy’s generally deep seas.
Italy currently has no offshore wind capacity, but the nearshore 30MW Beleolico project is currently under construction and expected to come online this year.
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