The ports of Taranto and Brindisi have presented the joint application to the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security with which they propose themselves as hub for the «development of shipbuilding in order to create the wind power supply chain offshore in our country”. Agi reports that the candidacy, formalized at Mase by the port authorities of the Ionian Sea for Taranto and of the southern Adriatic Sea for Brindisi, responds to the public notice launched a month ago by the ministry on the basis of the 2023 Energy decree.
For Taranto, the proposed areas are a part of the multi-sector pier (where the container terminal managed by the Turkish group Yilport, which has declared itself willing to enter the game, is now located), the former Belleli yard and, as a future hypothesis, the filling of the drainage basin in expansion of the protruding fifth. For Brindisi, however, the areas indicated are Capo Bianco, the Costa Morena east reclaimed basin and the quay where Enel handled the coal. Brindisi also attached the favorable opinion of ENAC to the candidacy proposal, given the proximity of the airport to the port and therefore the possibility of having to face safety problems given the imposing dimensions of the structures necessary for offshore wind power.
Now the ministry led by Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, having collected the applications, will have 120 days to decide. At least two ports in the South will need to be identified. Forza Italia parliamentarians Mauro D’Attis and Vito De Palma also pushed for a joint candidacy of the ports of Taranto and Brindisi, in consideration of the industrial specificities of the two areas and the fact that the Renantis-BlueFloat Energy joint the construction of two large wind farms off the coast of Brindisi and off the coast of Salento and that the same joint has entered into a pre-agreement with Yilport to use the port of Taranto for the assembly and movement of the platform structures.
According to Ksenia Balanda, responsible for the development of marine wind farm projects in Italy within the partnership between Renantis and BlueFloat Energy, «this is a first important intervention by the Government to implement the decree that encourages the production of energy from wind power offshore. We were waiting for the tender, we are happy about it, especially since, also thanks to the collaborations we have started, our first projects could open the construction site as early as 2027″.
As for the multi-sector pier in Taranto, claims the president of the Ionian Sea Authority, Sergio Prete, «we are around 400 thousand square meters referring to the area further inland. For the quay it will be necessary to see whether it will be used only for the launching of the structures and whether, when there is no launching, other functions can be carried out or not. It should be kept in mind, however, that any dock and yard must be adapted to the expected flow rates”. «The multi-sectoral aspect – adds Prete – is certainly the most usable part. There is the former Belleli yard because, many years ago, a function similar to the assembly of the wind farm was carried out offshore. Belleli, since it has been operating, has in fact built large oil platforms in Taranto offshore that have gone into the world. On the yard, however, safety and rehabilitation work still needs to be done. Sogesid, the contracting authority, is awarding the intervention.”
