A working group has been set up between ENI and the University of Turin to study the production of energy from wave motion

We have already discussed, in various articles, the great potential that the sea could give us in the form of energy produced by wave motion . We are still in the study phase of how we can permanently exploit this completely clean and inexhaustible resource. For this reason, ENI, an international hydrocarbon company, and the University of Tornino have joined forces to accelerate these studies.

Sea energy represents the largest renewable energy source in the world : it is estimated that the waves could develop a power along the earth's coasts at a global level equal to 2 TeraWatts, approximately 18 thousand billion kilowatt hours per year, which is almost the annual electricity supply on the planet. Furthermore, wave energy is predictable, more modulated than other renewable sources, and more continuous.

Valuing this energy source with high potential is the aim of the joint research laboratory created by the Polytechnic of Turin and Eni MORE - Marine Offshore Renewable Energy Lab - inaugurated today in the presence of the Minister of University and Research, Gaetano Manfredi, of the President of Eni , Lucia Calvosa, the CEO of Eni, Claudio Descalzi, and the Rector of the Polytechnic Guido Saracco.

The MORE Laboratory further materializes the collaboration between the Polytechnic of Turin and Eni, sanctioned last January with the renewal of a partnership agreement, which provides for the establishment and joint work of researchers from Eni and the University in the laboratory, with the objective of contributing to a further growth of know-how in this matter of great interest for both Eni and the University and to a rapid industrial implementation of technologies for the exploitation of marine energy resources.

The Laboratory will allow us to expand the field of action combined with the study of all marine energy sources, investigating not only wave motion but also offshore wind and solar energy, ocean and tidal currents and the salt gradient.

The MORE Lab is based at the Polytechnic, with the use of research infrastructures of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and also sees integration with the following Eni structures: the Marine Virtual Lab, at the HPC5 supercomputing center in Ferrera Erbognone and the offshore test area in Ravenna, where the pre-prototype phase of the ISWEC (Inertial Sea Wave Energy Converter) is being evaluated, the first plant in the world for hybrid and distributed electricity generation from wave motion and photovoltaic; a technology born from the research laboratories of the Polytechnic and developed by the University spin-off Wave for Energy, selected, optimized and industrialized by Eni and in operation since March 2019 in the Ravenna offshore.

ISWEC has demonstrated high reliability and ability to adapt to different sea conditions, thanks to its active control and regulation system. In fact, during the period of operation the maximum nominal value of installed power of 50 kW was exceeded.

Furthermore, the Laboratory will also network with the test site of the Polytechnic in Pantelleria, where other aspects of the same technology are tested in an ecosystem, the island one, which aims at energy autonomy and zero landscape impact.

There will be around 50 researchers involved in MORE Lab's research, including permanent staff and PhD students/thesis students from the Polytechnic, with whom Eni will interface, with its own professionalism, for a rapid growth of specific know-how and for the industrial finalization of the technologies .

The Center will have a naval test tank and cutting-edge laboratories for the development and dry testing of prototypes and a high-performance computing center.

Furthermore, the Laboratory will make use of a specific chair on "Energy from the Sea", which will have the aim of training engineers specialized in the design, implementation and use of the new technologies that will be developed in the laboratory.

Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi commented : “Eni's commitment to the development of technologies that will play a key role in the decarbonisation process becomes increasingly concrete thanks to the research work conducted together with the Polytechnic of Turin in the MORE Labs which will allow us to optimize technologies to make them increasingly efficient, competitive and accelerate the process of industrialization of marine energy".

“In a sector such as that of renewable energy and sustainability, the development of innovative solutions created in close collaboration with the industrial world - therefore ready to be used on the market - is more central than ever for our University”, commented the Rector of the Polytechnic Guido Saracco.

“The laboratories and research and innovation projects developed with Eni in the MORE Labs will be crucial in the coming years to significantly contribute to finding solutions to achieve the decarbonisation and emissions reduction objectives that Europe has set itself”.

from eni.com