An investigation on the offshore wind energy potential in Italy and its deployment with floating turbines

The thesis aim is to offer a general assessment of potential of offshore wind deployment in Italy. More specifically, it aids with the identification of the most promising locations and estimates the levelized cost of energy of the areas found suitable. Furthermore, the thesis develops a simple technical feasibility study at one of these sites, which specifically focuses on the design of the wind turbines foundations, considering and comparing different geotechnical solutions. It is been found that, in Italy, the offshore area suitable for the installation of wind farms is approximately 110,000 km2, with an estimated theoretical annual energy production of 188.25 TWh, more than half of the Italian electricity need. Locations identified as promising are the Adriatic Sea, and the Ionian Sea of the Apulia region and the South-West part of Sicily. For these areas the LCOE analysis has yielded values ranging between 90 $/kWh to 130 $/kWh, in line with European average. The case of study indicated that anchors’ cost strongly depends on local met-ocean conditions, as it is found by comparing the results obtained for the Italian case study with Hywind Scotland pilot floating wind farm, used as benchmark. Comparison between two different anchor solutions has also shown that the foundation choice has also a significant impact on the overall cost for a plant set-up.