Andrea Gulisano – CEO at Wave for Energy English Version Andrea Gulisano began his speech by pointing out that 40% of the world population lives less than 100 km from the coast and that the possibility of having energy from the sea would not be such a remote and undervalued resource. The energy from the sea has many positive and some negative aspects; among the positive ones there is the high energy density, as it is a very concentrated energy, at about 20 meters from the surface the maximum power of the hence. Moreover, the energy from the sea is also very predictable, there are technologies that can predict the amount of resources and give inputs to tune the different technological systems and achieve maximum results. It also has a minimal environmental impact. Among the negative aspects there are: the complexity of the regulations for installation, the absence of incentives and the use of materials subject to high corrosion. Gulisano spoke of Wave for Energy, the Spinoff of the Turin Polytechnic, founded in 2010, which works to create energy technologies for a more sustainable world and which has recently started working in the open sea and not only in the laboratory. The spinoff deals with marine energy and has soon broadened its horizons, especially thanks to the collaboration with Eni and with the University of Edinburgh. Among the projects of Wave for Energy, we find “ISWEC“, a WEC (Wave Attenuator) technology, born in 2012, which consists of a 100kW device consisting of a gyroscopic system that interacts with a sealed hull producing electricity. Wave for Energy has subsequently created a full-scale system that can be used in a real environment: the sea, the goal is to reach an industrial and commercial system. In 2015 he started the project in Pantelleria...
Month: February 2020
-
-
21 February 2020By Maddalena Fava – Partner of Cooperativa Ziguele English Version Every year, millions of tons of waste end up in the sea or in the port area; this phenomenon derives from: poor management and collection of waste, lack of infrastructure, little knowledge about the serious consequences on the natural habitat.Since the 1970s, the scientific community has been paying attention to this phenomenon, known as “marine litter“: “any durable material produced by man and abandoned in the marine environment; waste resulting from human activities whose destiny is to accumulate in the marine environment”. Fishing, aquaculture and recreational waste includes special waste (batteries, motor oils), organic waste (undersized species, waste), waste collected at sea (plastic, glass, paper and cardboard, fabric, wood, ferrous material).Currently, in the ports, this waste has a disorganized management: no space is available for storage and there are no operating methods for disposal. The reuse practices of the organic fraction are completely absent. Because of this, fishermen who collect waste from the sea, not finding suitable structures on the ground, abandon them back into the water, helping to increase environmental problems even in port areas. PRiSMa-Med is a cooperation project funded on the Interreg Maritime program, born precisely to combat these problems.The project involves several public and private partners located in three Italian regions, Liguria (Liguria Region, TICASS Scrl), Tuscany (Tuscany Region, Gestimar Scpa, CIRSPE) Sardinia (FLAG North Sardinia, Union Comuni Alta Gallura), and Corsica (Chamber of Commerce of Ajaccio and Southern Corsica).The objective is the characterization of the waste produced by fishing activities or collected at sea and to reinsert them in the production cycle through feasibility studies of recovery chains. We want to contribute to the reduction of waste and waste deriving from fishing, aquaculture and therefore from ports. To do this we need a system of...
-
13 February 2020By Michele Grassi – CEO & CTO of 40South Energy and Element Works English Version Michele Grassi begins his speech by introducing 40South Energy, a project born in 2007, and Elements Works, a project born in 2014. The focus of 40South Energy is to produce renewable energy from sea waves. Over the years Elements Works has adopted a sustainable approach to the resources of the sea, including one called Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) whose goal is to establish a circular approach to the marine environment. In this sector it is possible to interact with various stakeholders, including those involved in fishfarming. Data collection is also essential to have a complete picture of the environment in which you operate. We need to move towards a continuous and punctual knowledge and data collection, which at the moment is lacking. The tools that can be used at the moment are sensors that are separated by large distances that only give a partial collection of information; then there are simulations like those of Aeneas; the collections on the spot field are not enough. Sea energy is different from wind energy; it is more distributed and predictable.In 2005, Grassi had the idea of a new approach to convert sea waves into electricity. This idea has become a project, and after about 10 years it has produced a machine called H24, so called because it can work 24/24. The first prototype of this machine was installed in Marina di Pisa. This technology is particularly useful for efficient dispatching and for isolated networks.Microgrids need less energy and generally have to bear higher costs per kWh, up to 0.50 cents per kWh and even more. In this context, machines with greater capital and management costs can be exploited, and commercial installations can be made, which are self-financed...
-
7 February 2020By Thomas Lamberti – CEO of H2Boat English Version Thomas Lamberti started his speech by introducing the current ecological situation, underlining that thanks to the abundance of energy provided by fossil sources, mankind has experienced unprecedented growth, thanks to a rapid but not sustainable economic development based on a linear model of continuous growth. The cycle of oil formation and its consumption travel on two incredibly different time scales. Furthermore, the rapid release of fossil CO2 has brought the planet into the Anthropocene era, characterized by strong ecological imbalances. The future of humanity will require more and more energy, but in a sustainable way, within a circular economy approach. Lamberti then continued his discussion focusing on the importance of hydrogen as a new source of energy; he explained that the hydrogen energy is among the most promising solutions for storing energy produced from renewable sources. H2Boat, is a spin-off of University of Genoa, born within the Department of Mechanical Engineering DIME and they work together on the technology transfer. H2Boat was born out of the desire to concretely realize its ideas at an industrial level, always maintaining the innovative and enterprising spirit that characterizes the university activity.Among his projects, Lamberti is researching and developing innovative solutions in order to introduce hydrogen technology on the market and make it available in every sector and to engineer energy systems for sailboats and motorboats, with the intention to start a successful entrepreneurial initiative able to contribute to the clearance of fuel cell and hydrogen technology in the nautical/naval world and beyond. The launch product of H2Boat is the Energy Pack, an energy storage system produced from renewable sources for sailboats. H2Boat Energy Pack is a system that uses hydrogen technology for autonomous pleasure boats – in particular sailboats – from the on-board electrical...