Repower Renewable to Build 495MW Floating Offshore Wind Plant in Italy

Venice-based Repower Renewable S.p.A. plans to build a large-scale floating offshore wind farm in the Ionian Sea and connect it to Italy’s national grid.

The wind farm is located southeast of the eastern coast of Calabria at a minimum distance of about 61.8 kilometres from Capo Rizzuto and 74.8 kilometres from Monasterace Marina. The project is planned to have a capacity of 495 MW and feature 33 wind turbines with an individual capacity of 15 MW installed on floating foundations. The wind turbines will be installed across an area covering around 87 square kilometres.

Repower Renewable S.p.A. has submitted an application to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport Port Authority of Crotone for a 30-year maritime state property concession to build and operate the wind farm. The wind turbines will be connected to an offshore substation via 66 kV inter-array cables. The electricity generated at the wind farm will be transported onshore through a 380 kV export cable system.

Repower Renewable S.p.A. was established in 2018 by Switzerland’s Repower Group. The company has a portfolio of more than 15 renewable generation assets including onshore wind farms, solar installations, and small hydro plants. Repower Renewable was one of the 64 developers who last year submitted their Expressions of Interest (EoIs) to build floating wind farms in Italian waters to the country’s Ministry of Ecological Transition.

Italy’s Ecology Transition Minister Roberto Cingolani revealed in April last year that the country will have to produce as much as 72% of its electricity with renewable sources in 2030 so as to fulfil the European emissions-reduction target of 55% set for the same year.

Cingolani is responsible for deciding how to spend $84 billion out of $260 billion of the Recovery Plan, the European scheme to relaunch Italy, of which green projects will account for a whopping 37%. Italy is the largest recipient of the EU’s recovery fund, receiving nearly a third of the whole package.