Saipem and Divento have entered a collaboration agreement to leverage Saipem’s proprietary STAR 1 technology for floating wind projects in Italy, including on the 7 Seas Med and the Ichnusa projects.
Divento is a partnership involving Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, GreenIT, 7 Seas Wind Power and NiceTechnology.
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The agreement supports their participation in the first auctions under the Fer2 Decree for floating wind projects in Italy.
Saipem was chosen following a competitive technical-economic feasibility assessment.
STAR 1 is a semi-submersible floating wind foundation technology offering an industrial solution that is lightweight, easy-to-build, assemble and maintain.
GreenIT CEO Paolo Bellucci stated: “This agreement further strengthens the development of our 7 Seas Med and Ichnusa projects, which are at the forefront of floating offshore wind in Italy.
“Together with Saipem, Divento could act as a pioneer, facilitating the dissemination of local expertise and the construction of logistics infrastructures, fostering the growth of this new and important industrial sector in our country.”
The 252MW 7 Seas Med project, 35km from the coast in the Strait of Sicily, has an annual production capacity of 800 gigawatt hours (GWh).
It is the first floating wind project in Italy to obtain an environmental compatibility decree from the Ministry of Environment and Energy Security.
The 504MW Ichnusa Wind Power, to be developed by its namesake company, is located 40km from Sardinia’s southwestern coast. It has an annual production capacity of 1.6 terawatt hours.
Both projects are in the development phase, awaiting the regulatory framework for Italy’s first auctions for innovative renewable tech.
CIP partner Kunal Patel stated: “We are pleased to announce this collaboration with Saipem for our floating offshore wind projects in Italy. Saipem is a global company with great experience in the implementation of subsea engineering, procurement, installation and commissioning projects – a strategic requirement to accelerate our projects.
“Floating offshore wind can play an important role both for the Italian industry and for the production of safe and renewable energy. We therefore await clarifications on the CfD (contract for difference) system for floating offshore wind, which is essential to allow this potential to materialise.”
In a separate development, the Italian government recently enacted a law to re-introduce nuclear power almost 40 years after it was banned in the country by referendum.
The Council of Ministers has approved a bill to this effect, proposed by Minister Gilberto Pichetto.
