Enel to build one of Med's first wind farms

Enel has deposited the project design for one of the first offshore wind farms in the Mediterranean Sea.

The request for an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has been delivered by Enel to the Ministry of the Environment and the Region of Sicily.Italy's first offshore wind facility will foresee the installation of 115 large generators with a capacity of between three MW and five MW each in the waters of the Gulf of Gela. The location is at least three nautical miles (5.5 km) offshore, between the towns of Licata in the province of Agrigento and Butera and Gela, which are both in the province of Caltanissetta. The project, developed through a joint venture between Enel (57 percent) and Moncada Costruzioni (43 percent), will have a total installed capacity of between 345 MW and 575 MW. The maximum cost of the investment will be about US$786.8 million. Once fully operational, the plant will generate 1,150 million KWh of power, enough to meet the needs of 390,000 households. The towers, which will be equipped with rotors with a diameter of about 110 metres (360 ft), will be more than 100 metres (328 ft) tall and anchored to the sea bed in waters up to 30 metres (98 ft) deep. Studies are also being conducted to develop systems integrating the wind farm with the marine areas, where it will be built in order to ensure protection of local ecosystems.
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