The Italian strategic hub for floating wind power

Milan – On 18 April 2024, the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security (MASE) published the notice for the acquisition, by the Port System Authorities (1), of expressions of interest for the identification of the areas of the maritime state property in which to create the national strategic hub for floating offshore wind power. The procedure - initiated in implementation of art. 8 of Legislative Decree 181/2023, converted with mod. by Law 11/2024 (so-called Energy Decree) - provides for the creation of "a national strategic hub in the sector of design, production and assembly of floating platforms and electrical infrastructures functional to the development of shipbuilding for the production of offshore wind energy", with the aim of promoting the achievement of energy autonomy and supporting investments in Southern Italy. The areas to be designated for the creation of the strategic hub must be identified in "at least" two ports in Southern Italy under the jurisdiction of the Port System Authorities (2) or in port areas adjacent to those in which the gradual elimination of the use of coal is underway. The Port System Authorities had until May 18, 2024 to submit detailed applications. However, to date there is no official news on the results of the procedure, despite the fact that art. 8 of Legislative Decree 181/2023 provided that within 120 days of the deadline for submitting applications an inter-ministerial decree of the MASE and the MIT was to be adopted containing:
a. Identification of the state-owned areas to be designated for the creation of the national strategic hub;
b. Indication of the infrastructural interventions to be carried out in these areas;
c. Determination of the methods of financing the interventions. Press sources report the candidacies of the ports of Brindisi-Taranto, Crotone, Civitavecchia, Augusta and Vasto and, more recently, a statement by the President of the Sicilian Region that would have anticipated the selection of the port of Augusta (SR). However, no confirmation can be found on the MITE page dedicated to the procedure. Article 8 intends to implement the recommendations of the European Strategy for Offshore Renewable Energy (see the Resolution of the European Parliament of 16 February 2022), according to which "the southern EU Member States bordering the Mediterranean have a high potential for wind energy produced mainly by floating turbines" (according to the accompanying report to Legislative Decree 181/2023). The identification and infrastructure of areas of the maritime state property therefore aim to encourage investments by shipbuilding operators (national and foreign) with a view to creating a cutting-edge hub in the country for the design and construction of new-generation wind farms. The installation of wind turbines without fixed foundations (so-called floating turbines) should allow us to overcome some of the obstacles that have so far prevented the development of offshore wind farms, making their authorization and construction easier. At the moment, in Italy there is only one offshore wind farm installed, built with wind turbines with fixed foundations a short distance from the coast of Taranto. The floating turbine technology, which the national strategic hub intends to help develop and spread, should allow us to build wind farms at greater distances from the coast and in bodies of water with deep seabeds (think for example of those of the Tyrrhenian Sea and the central Mediterranean, in addition to oceanic bodies of water), thus significantly limiting the landscape impact of wind towers on the view from land towards the sea, which, as is known, constitutes one of the main obstacles to their acceptance by the Ministry of Culture and local communities. On this topic, it should be noted that with MIT decree n. 237 of 25 September 2024, published in the Official Journal no. 235 of 7 October 2024, the maritime space (3) management plans were finally approved. This planning tool (4) – as can be read on the first pages of the plan documents – is aimed at achieving a rational organization of the uses of the maritime space and their mutual interactions, in order to balance the demand for exploitation of the marine resource with the need to protect the related ecosystems. Maritime spatial planning is a fundamental factor for the sustainable development of the sea economy (the so-called blue economy), in which the construction of offshore wind farms plays a very important role, so much so that art. 23, paragraph 2, of Legislative Decree 199/2021, had reserved the identification of areas suitable for the installation of offshore plants to these plans. What is then surprising is the general nature of these planning tools, which – after years of waiting – simply refer to a subsequent in-depth study. seasoning the specification of the maritime areas to be dedicated to these uses. In particular, in chapter 8.4.2. the plans recognize that: “some sectors in the development phase (for example, wind power and aquaculture), … require a specific identification of areas to be dedicated to these uses or to new protected areas. In this sense, the vocations identified in the Plans certainly address these requests for space, but at the moment they do not define the specific geographical boundaries, at the necessary spatial scales. A specific operational definition process must therefore follow, during the implementation phase of the Plan, also through other processes and regulatory contexts (which must be kept monitored for the effects they may have on the Plan itself), according to the framework of skills defined by the legislation in force”. And further on, in chapter 8.4.3, with specific reference to the renewable energy sector, they specify that: “a preparatory study must be developed, possibly by 2024, for the identification by MASE …, in collaboration with MIT …, of the areas most suited to the development of offshore wind energy within the marine waters covered by the Plans …, also taking into account the activities and studies already underway to identify environmental sensitivities, the indications on the Acceleration Zones for renewable energy (Directive (EU) 2023/2413) and the definition of suitable / unsuitable areas (art. 23, Legislative Decree 199/2021)”. It is clear that, if we really want to make Italy a leader in the floating wind sector and, at the same time, promote an orderly deployment of offshore plants in our seas, it will be necessary to complete as soon as possible the procedures that, for the moment, have only been started. Otherwise, inertia and indefinite postponements will only discourage shipbuilding operators from making investments and, consequently, slow down the development of offshore renewables.

*Studio Legale GPA – GiusPubblicisti Associati

(1) See art. 6 of Law 84/1994.
(2) For the identification of the ports included in the Port System Authorities, please refer to Annex A to Law 84/1994.
(3) The maritime spatial management plans are regulated by art. 5, paragraph 1, letter c), of Legislative Decree no. 201 of 17 October 2016. The delay in adopting and communicating these plans led to the opening of an infringement procedure (no. 2021_2223) against Italy and its subsequent referral to the Court of Justice.
(4) The maritime spatial management plans can be freely consulted at https://www.sid.mit.gov.it/mappa. Three distinct management plans have been adopted: the management plan for the “Tyrrhenian-Western Mediterranean” maritime area, the management plan for the “Adriatic” maritime area and the management plan for the “Ionian-Central Mediterranean” maritime area.