Saipem and Divento say they have signed a collaboration agreement involving the potential application of STAR 1 in projects offshore Sicily and Sardinia.
STAR 1 is Saipem's proprietary technology for floating wind energy that is based on a semisubmersible floating platform foundation – a “light industrial solution” that Saipem says is “easy to build, assemble and maintain.”
Divento is a partnership between GreenIT (the joint venture for renewable energy between Plenitude and CDP Equity), Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and the co-founders of the projects, 7 Seas Wind Power and NiceTechnology.
The goal of this collaboration will be to orient the STAR 1 system for possible use in the 7 Seas Med projects offshore Sicily and the Ichnusa Wind Power project offshore Sardinia.
The 7 Seas Med floating wind project, located in the Strait of Sicily over 35 km from the coast, with an expected capacity of 252 MW and a yearly production of about 800 GWh, is said to be the first of its kind in Italy to receive the environmental compatibility decree from the Ministry of Environment and Energy Security.
Ichnusa Wind Power is a project that will be developed by the namesake company about 40 km from the south-western coast of Sardinia, with an expected capacity of 504 MW and a yearly production of about 1.6 TWh of renewable energy.
Both initiatives are in the development phase and awaiting the completion of the definition of the regulatory framework for the first auctions for Italian innovative renewables technologies, among which are floating offshore wind.
