Taranto: inaugurated Beleolico, first marine offshore wind farm Mediterranean
Inauguration of the first offshore wind farm in Italy
(Sustainabilityenvironment.com) – After 14 years Beleolico has made it. The first offshore wind farm in Italy and the Mediterranean is finally complete and connected to the electricity grid. Ready to produce clean energy. The long and complicated course of its realization has been concluded 21 April with the official inauguration in the polisettoriale pier of Taranto and the full satisfaction of Renexia, the constructor society.
“The completion of this work – commented Riccardo Toto, General Manager of Renexia (Toto Group company) – conquers a twofold objective, on the one hand, the satisfaction of having built the first marine wind farm in Italy and the Mediterranean Sea, on the other hand, the awareness that our approach, based on sharing, can contribute to the creation of a new protocol that combines technology and attention to the environment“.
Beleolico, 10 offshore wind turbines
The park, built about 100 meters from the coast of Taranto, has 10 turbines for a total power of 30 MW. For an estimated production of over 58 thousand MWh to cover the electricity needs of 60 thousand people in a year. For the distribution of the energy Renexia has constructed a substation of connection in locality Torre Triolo, to little km from the harbour area.
To the inauguration they have taken part also the President of the Region Apulia, Michele Emiliano, the President of the Authority of Harbour System of the Ionian Sea, Sergio Prete, the President of Steel mills of Italy, Franco Bernabè, the Legambiente President, Stefano Ciafani, the Chinese ambassador to Italy Li Junhua and the economic adviser Agnes Agterberg of the Dutch embassy.
“Sorry for the delay”
“After 14 years of delays and institutional ostracisms – Stefano Ciafani has declared, national president of Legambiente – finally to Taranto part the first offshore wind plant of the Mediterranean Sea. It is an emblematic case of the way of the cross authorization of our country […] in Italy there are many projects on renewables blocked for excessive bureaucracy, no local administrations, negative opinions of the Superintendences, moratoriums of the Regions, protests from local committees and some environmental associations. All this is unacceptable”.
During the inauguration, the association organized a flash mob with the banner “Sorry for the delay” with the aim of launching a double appeal to the government. The first was addressed to Prime Minister Mario Draghi so that several as soon as a new decree unlocks renewable. The second is for the Minister of Culture Dario Franceschini to direct the superintendencies, including the special one on the PNRR, “to no longer hinder the ecological transition”. “Every project is rejected regardless,” writes Legambiente in a press release. “We need a cultural change because renewables will change some landscapes but will improve others, such as those where thermoelectric plants will be dismantled with their high chimneys and will help fight climate crisis and smog“.
