Terna Energy, in cooperation with Saitec Offshore Technologies, is developing a floating offshore wind pilot in the Aegean Sea, Greece, featuring three 15 MW wind turbines mounted on concrete floating platforms using Saitec’s Swinging Around Twin Hull (SATH) technology.
The 45 MW AEGEANFLOAT project was selected for funding support under the European Commission’s Innovation Fund, which on 19 October announced 77 net-zero technology projects set to receive a combined EUR 3.4 billion. The project scope under the funding award covers site characterisation, platform design, installation, grid connection and operation.
The project is also receiving support from the European Investment Bank through its Project Development Assistance programme, which aims to help advance project development.
Saitec’s SATH platforms use a twin-hull concrete structure coupled with a single-point mooring system, designed to improve stability and align with wind and wave conditions while reducing structural loads in deep waters where fixed-bottom foundations are not viable.
The first full-scale SATH floating wind platform was deployed in 2023 off the Basque coast at the BiMEP open-sea test site near Armintza as part of the DemoSATH project, which Saitec Offshore Technologies brought to realisation in partnership with RWE and Kansai Electric Power Company (KEPCO). The platform received final prototype certification from Bureau Veritas in 2024. This month, Japanese construction company Kumagai Gumi joined Saitec and KEPCO on the DemoSATH project, with the partners extending the prototype’s operation at the BiMEP test site through 2027.
AEGEANFLOAT aims to demonstrate the technology at pre-commercial scale and collect technical, environmental and economic data that could support permitting and the development of future floating wind farms. The project is also expected to contribute to European supply chains and Mediterranean energy security.
Terna Energy has been eyeing offshore wind development in Greece for a few years now.
In November 2023, the company secured a three-year exploration and survey licence for a potential 400 MW pilot offshore wind farm south of Alexandroupolis and northeast of Samothrace, in the Thracian Sea.