01 September 2023
Highlighting the contribution of floating offshore wind power generation to the process of decarbonisation of Italy and the impact of this technology on the Italian economy and local supply chains is the objective of the Floating Offshore Wind Community, a project created by The European House - Ambrosetti in collaboration with Renantis, BlueFloat Energy, Fincantieri and Acciaierie d'Italia.
The initiative was presented at the 49th Cernobbio Forum by Valerio De Molli, Managing Partner & CEO of The European House - Ambrosetti; Pierroberto Folgiero, CEO of Fincantieri; Lucia Morselli, CEO of Acciaierie d'Italia; Carlos Martin Rivals, CEO of BlueFloat and Toni Volpe, CEO of Renantis, assisted by the scientific advisor Tim Pick, former consultant of the UK Government for the development of offshore wind.
"The decarbonisation of Italy and Europe must rely on the fundamental principle of technological neutrality: it is necessary to exploit the synergic and complementary contribution of all available technologies. In this process, floating offshore wind power generation can be the key to accelerate the green transition, thanks to the energy potential and limited environmental and social impacts, as well as the positive effects on the Italian industrial chain", commented Valerio De Molli, Managing Partner & CEO of The European House - Ambrosetti.
You can distinguish two macro-types of offshore wind power: the "fixed-bottom", whose foundation is rooted to the seabed, and the "floating", which is supported by a floating structure and docked to the seabed through an anchoring system and cables. The latter has considerable advantages: it can be installed in deeper waters and with stronger winds, which increases the energy potential; it can be positioned further away from the coast, resulting almost invisible in the landscape and reducing conflicts of interest with other uses of the sea; and has less impact on the environment and marine fauna, remaining more on the surface.
Comparing with the main international players, it emerges that, with an installed capacity of offshore wind power (fixed bottom) equal to 30 MW in 2022 and a 2030 target of 2.1 GW (between fixed and floating bottom), Italy is still very far from China, world leader, from the United Kingdom, 2nd world market, and from Germany, leader in the EU - which, respectively, boast an installed in 2022 equal to 30 GW, 14 GW and 8 GW and a 2030 target equal to 60 GW, 50 GW and 30 GW (almost entirely fixed-bottom installations). While global powers are firmly focusing on this technology, the draft update of the National Energy and Climate Plan (ENCP) predicts that in 2030 only 2% of the installed renewable power target will come from offshore wind farms (fixed bottom and floating).
Yet, thanks to the morphological characteristics and the conformation of the seabed, Italy has a huge potential for the installation of offshore floating wind power generators: according to the estimates of the Global Wind Energy Council, Italy is the third most potential world market for this technology. In addition, according to the Marine Offshore Renewable Energy Lab (MOREnergy Lab) and the Polytechnic University of Turin, the Italian potential is 207.3 GW (3.4 times the renewable energy sources installed in 2022) in terms of power, and 540.8 TWh/year (1.7 times the electricity demand in 2022) in terms of generation.
Among the areas of the country with greater potential for the development of this technology are Sardinia, Sicily and Apulia, in a context in which these regions show a gap in renewables to fill, respectively, 128%, 115% and 50% (current trends vs energy targets in 2030, according to the draft of the Decree Suitable Areas).
The production of floating offshore wind power would also trigger some of Italy's key sectors, in particular that of metal manufacturing, construction materials, advanced mechanics, naval-mechanics and electrical equipment, for a total of 255,6 billion euros (2nd country in the EU behind Germany) and 1.3 million people employed.