The team has a particular interest in the decarbonization of small islands, being actively involved in several studies regarding the energy transition of several Mediterranean islands. One of the most important studies the team carried out concerned Pantelleria island, located between Sicily and Tunisia. The island is not connected to the national energy grid; therefore, the energy is currently supplied by a diesel thermoelectric power plant. The team is a member of a consortium that has issued the energy transition agenda for Pantelleria island for the Secretariat of Clean Energy for EU Islands.
The team proposes to analyze the availability of renewable energy sources with modeling techniques and an on-field measurement instrument (weather station, floating or fixed mast, etc.).
Based on these activities, it is important to elaborate preliminary techno-economic feasibility analysis that takes into consideration renewable energy systems plants and storage plants.
In parallel, it is important to involve in an open discussion all the main stakeholders, like local administration, protected areas administration, touristic operators, economic operators, citizens, and so on, to have a comprehensive understanding of the context in which blue energy projects are planned.
The objective is to define a strategic plan for:
- Defining future energy scenarios
- Design development and definition of the optimal Wave Energy Converters (WEC) device
- Evaluating risks and vulnerabilities
- Defining mitigation actions
In particular, the team has all the knowledge and skills necessary to go from preliminary design to installation, that is:
- Seabed characteristics evaluation to choose the most suitable mooring type
- Bathymetric trend analysis to identify the mostly flat area
- Intervisibility analysis to assess the possible visual impact of the device
- Wave and wind detailed assessment through numerical models able to reproduce the propagation of the waves and the wind.
- Wave and wind statistical analysis to identify the main project parameters
- Choice of the most appropriate WEC and then optimization of the chosen device, to adapt its shape and its operation to the wave characteristics
At the same time, the aspect related to the choice of material is taken into consideration, in particular materials with the following characteristics are preferred:
- Short supply chain
- Low environmental impact
- Possibility of disassembly, reuse, and recycling
- Resistance to aggressive materials
The team has identified Fix-Referenced Point Absorber (FreePA) as main ideas inherent to the challenge. The FReePA is a point absorber directly installed on infrastructure already available in harbors areas.
The device extracts energy from the wave power using floaters that moves up and down accordingly with the wave motion. The floaters are equally spaced and oriented with the dominant wave direction, they are connected to the infrastructures through rigid arms which transmit the mechanical power to the power take-off (PTO) system, converting the mechanical energy into electricity.