«Once the wind turbine is installed on its floating foundation, the final maximum height will be no less than 320 metres, while the hub will be at a height of no less than 175 metres above sea level».
Declared and signed by the technicians who presented the preliminary project to the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security for the construction of a gigantic offshore wind farm off the coast of Capo Pecora, Scivu and Piscinas. Other numbers, to give an idea of the size: there will be 55 gigantic turbines, each with a power of 18 MW, for a total of 990 MW. Energy that would satisfy the needs of well over half of Sardinia. The submarine cable connecting it to the mainland will be about 60 kilometers long : the hypothesized landing point is Portoscuso. While the plant will be at a minimum distance of 23 kilometers from the most advanced point, namely Capo Pecora.
A distance that will hide those huge blades from view? The report states that "overall the graphic drawings show quite clearly that the wind farm being planned will be difficult to distinguish from the coast," it is assured, before adding that "In particular, considering the simulations that assume the presence of an observer on the beach (a few meters above sea level), it can be noted that at great distances a good part of the turbines are hidden by the curvature of the Earth." A good part, not all. And there is another aspect: the highest point of Capo Pecora is close to 500 meters. From there the view changes. And not a little.
Not only that. Among the attached photosimulations they take into consideration an observation point at a height of 30 meters and at a minimum distance of 46 kilometers, from the Tower of San Giovanni di Sinis (Capo San Marco). Much further north. And the blades can be seen from there too.
The proposing company is Renewables Energies Ltd, based in London but with a Sardinian director (born in 1941). The papers explain that all the turbines will be floating and so far, but it is not certain that the final choice will be that, the option is for the technology proposed by the Chinese giant MingYang.