Riccardo Toto is the General Manager of Renexia and represents the new generation of young entrepreneurs committed to the forefront of enhancing energy from renewable sources as a strategic resource for a complete energy transition, with the utmost respect for the environment and for a new sustainable economicdevelopment.

With a long history of international success in the design and construction of large on/off-shore wind farms, Riccardo Toto and Renexia continue to pioneer innovation in the field of renewables.

That’s why in this second meeting we asked Riccardo Toto three questions about Med Wind, the Mediterranean’s largest offshore wind farm project with floating (“floating”) technology.

1. WHAT IS MED WIND AND WHAT IS SPECIAL ABOUT IT ?
   

   Med Wind is Renexia’s project for the largest floating offshore wind farm in the Mediterranean, off the coast of Sicily and capable of generating electricity for 3.4 million households, or more than the domestic electricity needs of the entire island of Sicily. Med Wind is designed to achieve the highest possible environmental sustainability and minimal landscape impact, because Med Wind will be located 80 km from the Sicilian coast and about 50 km from the island of Marettimo-a record distance for offshore plants, making the park invisible from the mainland. Med Wind represents the solution to enable Sicily and the country to take a decisive leap forward, toward the energy autonomy and environmental sustainability goals set for 2030.

2. WHAT DOES THE FLOATING (“FLOATING”) TECHNOLOGY FOR OFFSHORE WIND CONSIST OF ?

   The structures that support Med Wind’s large blades will not be sunk into the seabed but fixed with an advanced anchoring system: this significantly reduces the impact on the environment. A “floating” wind turbine is mounted on a floating platform on the water. Floating wind turbines allow wind energy to be harnessed in particularly favorable wind locations, which previously could not be exploited due to the depth of the seabed. Floating wind farms can thus greatly increase the sea area available for the installation of offshore wind farms, making it possible to exploit areas with seabeds too deep for fixed wind turbines, such as off the Mediterranean Sea. “Floating” technology makes it possible to exploit sea mirrors tens of kilometers, and therefore invisible, from the coastline, where winds blow more intensely and steadily, but where the seabed is particularly deep and incised. Seabeds for which infixed monopiles to support wind towers are an unsustainable solution, not only environmentally, but also technically and economically. Thanks to “floating” technology, it will be possible to produce more energy and, above all, in an even more environmentally friendly way.

3. MED WIND IS THE RESULT OF A LONG PROCESS OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND INCLUSIVE LISTENING…
   

   To ensure maximum sustainability for the project, Renexia has forged a partnership over the years with the main environmental associations active in Italy, in order to understand from the voice of those who are engaged every day in the defense of the environment how to verify all the potential impacts of the park on a strictly scientific level. Renexia therefore decided to invest tens of millions of euros to carry out four oceanographic campaigns, entrusted to independent and internationally accredited research organizations. A small community of professionals was mobilized within the framework of these projects: geotechnicians, marine biologists, archaeologists, all aimed at a single end: certifying the compatibility of the marine area with the requirements of the project proposed to the Ministry of the Environment at the scoping stage. The significant amount of scientific data collected during these important campaigns will be made available to the scientific community and will represent a significant step forward for a better understanding of our sea.

   At the same time, we have worked proactively to open tables of discussion with institutions: from this point of view, Renexia was the first company in Italy to initiate a series of meetings with the relevant ministries on the new technology. Thanks to its efforts, the Ministry of Environment and Energy Security convened the first table on offshore wind. Renexia was the first to talk about floating wind turbines and floaters when not a single wind turbine had yet been seen on Mediterranean waters.

   Renexia immediately offered its contribution and experience in order to identify the necessary implementation of the authorization process, called to confront a new technology, and actively contributed to start a public debate on the need for a new Italian industrial chain for offshore floating wind. Renexia has ignited attention on strategic energy issues to wide audiences during public events organized by ANEV, the Univerde Foundation, Legambiente, the non-profit Marevivo, competitors and state and university institutions, to the point of “landing” the debate on the coasts of Trapani aboard Goletta Verde in the summer of 2022. Discussions with local governments, productive categories and trade unions have made it possible to improve the project and set the conditions to boost the economic development of the territories that will host the work.

   The strength of these bonds of collaboration, but also of deep harmony, allowed the definition of a great project like Med Wind.