Galileo, Hope eye 1,100 MW floating wind farm in Adriatic Sea

Renewable energy companies Galileo and Hope Group have established Barium Bay, their second joint venture for the development of floating offshore wind farms in the Italian part of the Adriatic Sea.

Galileo from Switzerland and Italy-based Hope Group are targeting 1,100 MW in capacity. The Barium Bay project will be located over 40 kilometers from the shoreline, spread from Bari to north of Barletta.

Barium Bay has been designed with 74 wind turbines of 15 MW each and, given the site’s high distance from the shore, it will be able to capture wind speeds sufficient to produce over 3,000 GWh per year, which can cover the electricity demand of over one million Italian households, the two companies said.

The developers plan to prepare the environmental impact assessment within summer

The joint venture is currently completing the necessary environmental and technical studies, with the objective to file its environmental impact assessment (EIA) application in the summer. In parallel, the JV will begin a 24-month wind measurement campaign with Eolos Floating Lidar Solutions from Spain.

The Barium Bay project further consolidates Galileo and Hope’s partnership, which started in September 2022 with Lupiae Maris, a joint venture for the development of a floating wind farm on the sea from Brindisi to Lecce.

The Adriatic Sea offers a winning combination

Michele Scoppio, CEO of Hope Group, said the firm is having positive and constructive discussions on a daily basis with local and national institutions. “This makes us optimistic about the next steps of the project,” he added.

According to Ingmar Wilhelm, Galileo’s CEO, the Adriatic Sea offers a winning combination of key factors that make floating offshore wind projects highly attractive for Italy: good wind speeds, vast areas, and suitable solutions for connecting to the national grid.

Galileo has an active pipeline of over 8 GW of solar PV, onshore and offshore wind and storage projects across eight European countries.

Hope Group’s main activities are the integration of the renewable supply chain with the production of green hydrogen. Its pipeline of over 3 GW in capacity consists of onshore wind, offshore wind, and solar PV plants, especially agrisolar.