Renewables developer Plambeck Emirates has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Italian company Saipem for the development of a 500MW floating offshore wind farm in Saudi Arabia.
Plambeck Emirates entity Plambeck Saudi, in Riyadh, will undertake early stage development of the project in the next several weeks.
Saipem will act as the engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) contractor on the wind farm.
The partnership is subject to the finalisation of financial agreements at the end of the development phase, with the EPCI contract signing to follow.
A wind turbine supplier is expected to join the project at a later stage of development.
Plambeck Emirates shareholder Norbert Plambeck said: “The development of the 500MW floating offshore wind project is part of the 5GW ‘New Wind Market’ concept, which we have proposed to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
“In Saipem we are proud to have an internationally experienced global solution provider on board, with whom we can jointly take the next project development steps.”
Saipem’s proprietary floating offshore wind platform technology is the Hexafloat.
Earlier this year a consortium led by the European Marine Energy Centre secured funding to test the platform at a site off the coast of Ireland by 2022.