The development of offshore wind power
In order to achieve Europe's 2030 decarbonisation targets, it will be necessary to develop a large amount of renewable energy: offshore wind power certainly stands to make an important contribution to this goal. Until a few years ago, offshore wind was considered an immature technology not feasible for large-scale application. But technological developments and recent market dynamics have shifted the balance in favour of offshore wind power, and 2022 estimates by RSE and Terna forecast development of between 3.5 and 8.5 GW by 2030.
Offshore wind energy responds to several problems that Italy will face as it increases its generation of renewable energy: the limited availability of land due to high population density, the country's orography and extensive agriculture; in addition, renewable energy sources are intermittent, particularly photovoltaic energy, produced only during daylight hours.
Edison is convinced that offshore wind power stands to make a major contribution toward decarbonising the country and intends to seize the opportunities offered by this nascent market. The technology is still very expensive, and not comparable with the cost of onshore wind and photovoltaic energy: an appropriate regulatory framework will therefore be needed to allow the development of this technology off the Italian coastline.
