Renexia has deployed an AXYS FLiDAR WindSentinel in the Strait of Sicily, at the site of its proposed Med Wind floating wind farm, for a twelve-month measurement campaign.
The metocean data will support the layout design of Med Wind and provide essential inputs for engineering structures, moorings, installation planning, and future maintenance activities, the developer says.
Proposed to be built off the coast of Trapani, at a site covering 850 square kilometres, Med Wind will be built in phases to reach its full installed capacity of 2.8 GW, which could generate about 9 TWh of electricity per year, equal to the energy needs of 3.4 million households, according to earlier information about the project.
Renexia started working on preliminary design and site investigations for Med Wind, deemed the first floating wind project in the Mediterranean, in 2022. In September 2022, Fugro won the contract to carry out marine geophysical and environmental surveys and, the following month, Renexia hired RINA to prepare an environmental impact assessment and other related studies for the project.
In December 2022, the developer selected Technip Energies to perform the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) for the 2.8 GW floating wind farm and, in 2023, contracted Seas Geosciences to study the most environmentally sustainable mooring and anchoring solutions.
In 2024, Renexia contracted Aker Solutions to design underwater substations for Med Wind and teamed up with Mingyang Smart Energy as the preferred wind turbine supplier.
Renexia said in August 2024 that using an 18.8 MW turbine model would reduce the number of wind turbines at Med Wind from the originally planned 190 to 148, which would further reduce both environmental impact and maintenance costs.
In October 2024, Renexia also signed a contract with Mingyang for the front-end engineering design (FEED) of the 2.8 GW Med Wind project.