Energia dal mare

Abstract

Sea wave energy is considered a promising renewable energy source for the next future. The potential application is related to small islands and countries with long coastline. Thus, Italy can be an important test bench for this energy source, thanks to the moderate wave climate. Despite many concepts and prototypes have been proposed in literature, a technology for the large-scale commercialization is still missing.
The manuscript shows briefly the main concepts for the sea wave energy harvesting. A technology under development is consequently presented, reporting the optimization process and first results. This technology directly converts the mechanical energy of waves into electrical energy. This topic is currently investigated at the Engineering department, in the class of “Marine Technologies from the Sea” (B. Eng. in “Marine Technology Engineering”) and in the class of “Wind, Tidal, Geothermal and Biomass Energy” (M. Eng. In Energy and Nuclear Engineering). Many students have chosen to carry out their thesis on this topic.
A case study is here reported, considering the adoption of this technology. Among the SDGs indicated by the UN 2030 Agency, the research activity is aimed at Task 7 (affordable and clean energy), with benefits also for Task 9 (industry, innovation, and infrastructure) and Task 11 (Sustainable cities and communities).