The energy potentials of wind and marine motions differ greatly in terms of knowledge, maturity of technologies and number of existing installations. In fact, wind power has already seen considerable development over the past 20 years, while renewable energy production from sea currents and especially from wave motion has only recently accelerated, thanks to several projects for testing and fine-tuning technologies, which bring it closer to the commercial stage.
However, for the development of both sectors, the most thorough and precise knowledge possible of the characteristics and the geographic distribution of resources is essential. Model chains can be used with this in mind, but it is equally essential to have as many high-quality field measurements as possible, which are also suitable for validating the results obtained by modeling.
To this end, the EOLMAR 2013 project saw the continuation of anemometer campaigns at coastal/insular and offshore sites initiated in previous research projects, as well as the installation of a wavemeter/current meter in the port of Civitavecchia. Using mesoscale and local-scale models, the wind resource in the land-sea area around the MOBI buoy installed by RSE and the wave climate at some promising sites in southern Sicily were evaluated.
In order to be able to draw future development scenarios for both sectors, aspects concerning prototypical devices were investigated in depth: the behavior of wind turbines on a floating platform subjected to open sea stress, on the one hand, and fluid-dynamic studies to optimize the configuration of a ‘Oscillating Water Column’ device for the production of electricity from wave motion, on the other hand.
Particularly important in this project were the activities to support institutions and the participation in initiatives of national (CEI, the Italian electrotechnical committee), European (SETPlan – European Wind Initiative) and international (IEA – WIND) regulatory bodies. As far as international initiatives are concerned, we highlight the participation in IRENA – Global Atlas.