The Swedish energy company Hexicon has secured permits from Terna, the Italian transmission system operator (TSO), to connect six floating offshore wind projects totalling 7.1 GW to the Italian national grid. Permit for a seventh site developed by the company is still in process. Hexicon, operating in Italy through AvenHexicon (a 50/50 joint venture between Hexicon and Italy’s Avapa Energy), is developing these seven sites for floating wind along the coasts of Sardinia, Sicily, and Puglia (southern Italy). The interconnection permit (STMG) is a preliminary agreement from Terna to provide interconnection capacity. It provides a commitment from the TSO to make the necessary capacity available to be connected to the grid.
In October 2022, AvenHexicon secured priority rights to develop two offshore wind projects totalling 2.5 GW in two areas of southern Italy. A 1.35 GW, 346 km2, offshore wind park near Porto Torres, off the coast of Sardinia and a 1.2 GW, 364 km2, wind park near Agrigento, off the coast of Sicily.
Italy is aiming to generate 55% of its total electricity generation from renewables by 2030. As of end-2021, Italy did not yet possess any operational offshore wind capacity but had more than 11 GW of onshore wind (9% of the country’s installed capacity and 7% of its power generation with 21 TWh).
