Potentials and challenges of floating wind in the Mediterranean Sea: A joint industrial and academic perspective

Engineering notes

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Chinese explanation / 中文解读

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Original abstract

Accelerating decarbonisation while safeguarding energy security requires a rapid scale-up of renewables. Offshore wind energy is central, and floating wind can unlock deep-water resources where bottom-fixed foundations are not feasible. Yet progress is constrained not by costs alone but by permitting complexity, delays in government auctions, grid access, environmental safeguards, and the sequencing of logistics and industrial capacity. The Mediterranean combines major technical potential with persistent structural barriers. This review offers a basin-specific, industry-oriented assessment integrating techno-economic feasibility, regulation, and industrial readiness. It addresses three cross-cutting questions on technical feasibility, regulatory acceleration, and industrial coordination, covering siting, permitting, finance, grids, and supply chains. We find that cost competitiveness is necessary but insufficient. Floating projects require dedicated rules, infrastructure, and financing frameworks distinct from bottom-fixed, while overall progress depends on clear floating-fit auction schedules, targeted infrastructure and port upgrades, and synchronised grids. Early, place-based engagement and nature-inclusive design are essential to feasibility. Many challenges are shared across offshore wind but amplified for floating by deeper waters and more complex logistics. Aligning planning, grid integration, industrial capability and social licence is decisive to turning the Mediterranean’s offshore potential, driven mainly by floating wind and enabled by basin-wide coordination, into bankable projects at pace.

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