Acciaierie d’Italia to provide steel for the Floating Offshore Wind project
Acciaierie d’Italia, the second largest Italian flat steel producer, will be part of the project “Floating Offshore Wind Community,” a project created by the European House think-tank Ambrosetti in partnership with renewable energy player Renantis, BlueFloat Energy and shipbuilder Fincantieri.
Acciaierie d’Italia will provide steel and other materials for the construction of floating platforms for offshore wind farms, taking advantage of ongoing decarbonization projects and its strategic, central position in the Mediterranean Sea, while receiving renewable energy in return.
The project was presented Sept. 1 and follows a memorandum of understanding signed in January, in which Acciaierie d’Italia entered into the partnership, which aims to develop renewable energy projects.
“The decarbonization of Italy and Europe must leverage the fundamental principle of technological neutrality: it is necessary to exploit the synergistic and complementary contribution of all available technologies,” Valerio De Molli, Managing Partner & CEO of The European House – Ambrosetti, said.
“In this process, floating offshore wind can be the key to accelerating the green transition, thanks to its energy potential and limited environmental and social impacts, as well as the positive effects on the Italian industrial supply chain,” De Molli said.
According to the Global Wind Energy Council, Italy has the third biggest potential for the floating wind market in the world, due to the morphological characteristics and formation of its seabed.
According to the Marine Offshore Renewable Energy Lab and the University Polytechnic of Turin, the Italian potential for floating offshore wind is equal to 207.3 GW in terms of power, and 540.8 TWh/year in terms of generation.
Acciaierie d’Italia’s Taranto steelworks is currently providing structural steel plates for onshore wind farms, with the company planning investment to upgrade the production line to produce high-strength, thick plates for floating offshore platforms.
EU HRC prices stable as market activity remains muted
Northwest European steelmakers have been targeting prices of Eur700/mt ex-works Ruhr, and some Central European mills Eur710/mt delivered Germany, but buyers have been reluctant to accept such prices.
Market participants have estimated tradable values at Eur620-680/mt ex-works Ruhr, with the majority of data heard at around Eur670/mt ex-works Ruhr.
“Demand is weak,” a distributor said. “Prices of Eur650/mt ex-works are not flying. Prices of Eur620-630/mt ex-works would not guarantee deals either.”
Platts assessed domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Northwest Europe at Eur670/mt ex-works Ruhr Sept. 4, unchanged day on day.
Platts assessed domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in South Europe up Eur5/mt day on day to Eur645/mt ex-works Italy Sept. 4. Tradable values have been reported at Eur640-650/mt ex-works Italy.