Today as well as in the past since the Industrial Revolution Italy must deal with a possible critical vulnerability, energy independence.
This is a crucial topic for a country because it can affect many other themes such as the welfare of the population, the ability to purchase of the citizens but also issues such as defense and production.
In this scenario, which is important in several respects, from the technical one to the geopolitical one, the new breakwater project to protect the regasified off the coast of Ravenna fits in.
More in detail off the coast of Ravenna two projects intersect:
- One is for the construction of a floating regasifier by Ravenna’s Port Authority and FSRU Italia, a Snam Group company, which has already been signed and is scheduled to be operational starting in 2025.
- Another for the construction of a supporting infrastructure to protect the regasifier itself, namely a breakwater capable of protecting the plant from adverse marine weather conditions, again already signed by Ravenna’s Port Authority with Rcm Costruzioni and Acciona Construccion.
Here we delve into the second project, the brand new Punta Marina’s Breakwater started in October 2024 by the temporary business grouping established by by Rcm Costruzioni and Acciona Construccion. The construction process sees a start date in the beginning of 2025, so in the next days, we should be able to acquire more information about that.
This crucial infrastructure, financed by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, sets itself the daunting task of protecting what, when completed in 2025, will be one of the country’s most strategically important facilities, the Ravenna’s FSRU (Floating Storage and Regasification Units), a gateway for gas energy of the whole Italy.
According to the Spanish Acciona Construccion, the work consists of the realization of a vertical concrete quay with a length of 880 meters, a width of 22 meters, a height above sea level of more than 10 metres (as shown in the picture below) and its function will be the protection of the FSRU and the nearby gas carriers against the waves.
Picture #1: our reworking of the project’s rendering showing measurements
The project will be located 8.5 kilometers off the coast of Punta Marina, south of the Port of Ravenna in seas that reach depths of up to 17 meters.
According to the contractor, the Northern Adriatic Sea’s AdSP, the contract worth more than 200 million euros is fully financed by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti. As stated by the President of the Northern Adriatic Sea’s AdSP, this breakwater is essential for the protection of the Ravenna’s FSRU as the backbone of Italy’s energy infrastructure, especially from the perspective of energy transition and energy independence, here the reason why the project is fully financial covered. Moreover, Ravenna’s Port Authority simulations estimate that the lifespan of such a plant should exceed 20 years making its depreciation process very favorable for the contractor.
Ravenna’s Port Authority is also confident that the constructive challenge will be met in the best possible way by the group of enterprises involved, whereas the project has resulted in the highest possible technical evaluation and that the duration of the construction site is expected to be just over 2 years, probably 27 months.
Figure #2: our elaboration of the project highlights
Given the timing of the construction and entry into force of the FSRU and breakwater as per their respective plans, there will still remain a time gap that will force the regasified plant to operate without the protection of the breakwater for a period of more than 1 year.
Lastly, it should be borne in mind that the port of Ravenna has investments of more than 5 billion euros among the various projects allocated, a fact that the Italian government itself has emphasized several times, recalling that 4 of these 5 billion come from private rather than public sources, which makes it a virtuous example in the whole Italian scene.
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