The environmental impact assessment (EIA) procedure for Odra Energia has begun. The project is a proposed 1.3 GW floating offshore wind project being developed off the southern coast of Italy’s Lecce province in partnership between Lunatis and Bluefloat Energy.
After a year-long evaluation and research phase, the EIA study was submitted to the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Security (Mase) and the Ministry of Culture (MiC).
The EIA study consists of a series of documents detailing the hypotheses for the project in question, and is expected to be released for public consultation in the coming weeks.
This is a further advance on the permitting process that began in 2021, when the Partnership initiated a voluntary environmental scoping process and opened the project to observation from local authorities, associations and other local, regional and national stakeholders. be.
This facilitates closer alignment with local community expectations, including increasing the proposed wind farm’s distance from the coast by 30% compared to the original plan and reducing the number of turbines. , some project adjustments were made. placed in the first row.
The project proposes 90 floating wind turbines, with a maximum installed capacity of approximately 1,300 MW and expected generation of approximately 4 TWh/year.
This is equivalent to the consumption of more than 1 million Italian households and avoids the emission of more than 2 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually. The total investment in the construction and development of the project is estimated at more than $4.3 billion (4 billion euros).
“In the months leading up to the finalization of the EIA, we were able to optimize the project through a dedicated environmental and engineering campaign carried out both onshore and offshore. project that is at the same time environmentally sustainable and contributes to the growth of the local economy,” said Ksenia Barranda, General Manager of the Lunatis Bluefloat Energy Partnership in Italy.
Developers say approximately 1,500 direct jobs are expected to be created throughout the manufacturing, assembly and construction phases of the wind farm, with up to 4,000 expected during peak activity periods, and over the life of the wind farm (estimated to be 30 years). is expected to create more than 150 permanent jobs. .