Project GEOMA, a consortium led by Blue H has been selected as one of thirty recipients of
Italian public funding under the “Industria 2015” a program announced by Mr Claudio Scajola of the Ministry of Economic development. This Italian based project plans to develop a hybrid concrete/steel 3.5 MW floating wind turbine ideal for the deep waters of the Mediterranean Sea.

The consortium which is led by Blue H R&D from Genoa, consists of Ansaldo Sistemi Industriali (Milan), Blue H Sky Saver (Santeramo in Colle), Cesi Ricerca (Milan), EADS Astrium (Parigi), Progeco (Rosignano), Società Gomma Antivibrante (Milan), TRE Tozzi Renewable Energy (Ravenna) and Università Federico II di Napoli (Napels). It aims to create an integrated solution for a floating wind turbine able to bring down the overall cost of electricity generation in line with economics of onshore wind energy generation, but without the problem of negative visual impact.

The Blue H Consortium is one of two wind energy projects within Industria 2015 which have been selected by a panel of experts. The Italian government is investing in companies that in turn invest in high quality solutions for the environment.

Martin Jakubowski, Technology Architect of Blue H said: “This Industria 2015 award represents an extremely important endorsement of Blue H’s floating wind energy solution for the deep waters of the Mediterranean Sea and other oceans. Italy, for instance, has over 8,000 kilometers of coast line. Most of the good wind sites are in deep water far from the coast”.

Blue H installed the world’s first floating wind turbine prototype in the summer of 2008 in the Strait of Otranto, opposite the municipality of Tricase in Puglia, Southern Italy. The company is currently building the first operational 2MW unit in Brindisi, which it expects to deploy at the same site in the Southern Adriatic Sea in 2009, the first in the planned 90 MW Tricase offshore wind farm, located more than 20 kilometers distant from the beautiful coast line of Puglia.