Page 1 - Sustainable_Energy_2018

Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 30 (2018) 68–76

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/seta
Original article

Nearshore wave energy converters comparison and Mediterranean small
T
island grid integration

a
b
a
a
M. Majidi Nezhad , D. Groppi , F. Rosa , G. Piras , F. Cumo b, ⁎ , D. Astiaso Garcia a
a
Department of Astronautics, Electrical and Energy Engineering (DIAEE), Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
b Interdepartmental Centre for Landscape, Building, Conservation, Environment (CITERA), Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
ARTIC L E I NF O ABSTRAC T
Keywords: The aim of the paper is to preliminary analyse the performance of several nearshore Wave Energy Converters
Wave energy (WEC) sited in the west coast of Sicily close to the Favignana island’s shorelines. In particular, the four WEC
Wave Energy Converter technologies that have been considered are Wave Star, Oyster, Wave Dragon and Archimedes Wave Swing. The
Off-grid system
power performance assessment has been developed through the comparison of various scaled versions of the
Renewable energy potential WEC using a proved scaling process based on the Froude similitude. The best device for Favignana’s wave
Small islands
climate has resulted to be the Wave Dragon with a rated power of 500 kW. Then, the evaluation of the Wave
HOMER
Dragon’seffect on the off-grid system of Favignana has been analysed by means of the HOMER software. The
current mix of production and the electric load of the island have been modelled on HOMER and the in-
troduction of the Wave Dragon with and without a battery energy storage has been analysed. The obtained
results underlined that high fuel savings and emission reductions can be achieved. The study has been carried
out in the context of the PRISMI (Promoting RES Integration for Smart Mediterranean Islands) international project
funded by the Interreg-MED EU programme.

Introduction Community by 2020 [8], and in particular to get the targets of green-
house gas emissions reduction reported in the 2030 EU Energy Strategy
In recent decades, environmental concerns have pushed mankind to and the 2050 EU Energy Roadmap.
be more innovative in finding new and more eco-friendly energy There are many different classification for WEC based on the
sources to replace the fossil fuels that we are so heavily dependent on working principle, the size or the location. Regarding the location ca-
[1]. Global energy demand is expected to increase by 35% between tegorizing principle they should be categorized as onshore, nearshore
2010 and 2040 [2] which adds a greater stress to find alternative en- and offshore devices, depending also on their depth water in addition to
ergy sources. In this research, ocean has acquired a great importance just the location [9,10]. This work focuses on nearshore WEC that are
thanks to its great potential due to the vastness of the source and to the defined as devices that works in relatively shallow water, Drew et al.
different options to exploit it. In fact, energy from the sea can be [11] suggested that the definition could be a depth of less than one
exploited in several ways, namely from waves, tides, temperature and quarter of the wavelength.
salinity gradients. In this framework, Wave Energy Converters (WEC) Considerable work has been undertaken on wave energy assessment
have emerged as a promising technology and have the potential to around the world. According to Thorpe et al. [12], the potential
contribute large quantities of low emission renewable energy [3] but worldwide wave power is estimated to be 2 TWh. The most powerful
they have also presented one of the most challenging technological sites identified are of course in open seas and oceans, in particular most
problems of the 21st century [4,5]. energetic areas are the Indian Ocean, North Atlantic and North Pacific
Many typologies of WEC have been developed for the use of wave [13], i.e. USA [14], Canada [15], Korea [16], Australia [17] and Ma-
energy [6] both for offshore and coastal areas [7] and currently re- laysia [18]. Sheltered and semi-sheltered seas usually have a limited
present a possible solution for European countries to achieve the ob- wave energy potential but in many cases it has been proved that it can
jectives of Directive 2009/28/EC, which endorsed a mandatory target still be suitable for energy exploitation [19] such as in the Black Sea
of 20% of energy from renewable sources within the overall European [20], the Baltic Sea [19], the Eastern Mediterranean Levantine Basin

⁎ Corresponding author at: Via Salaria 851, Rome, Italy.
E-mail addresses: meysam.majidinezhad@uniroma1.it (M. Majidi Nezhad), daniele.groppi@uniroma1.it (D. Groppi), flavio.rosa@uniroma1.it (F. Rosa),
giuseppe.piras@uniroma1.it (G. Piras), fabrizio.cumo@uniroma1.it (F. Cumo), davide.astiasogarcia@uniroma1.it (D.A. Garcia).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seta.2018.08.009
Received 15 January 2018; Received in revised form 20 July 2018; Accepted 29 August 2018
2213-1388/ © 2018 Published by Elsevier Ltd.