Wave energy in Italian seas : preliminar design of a point absorber

It was in the mid 1970’s when the research in the Wave Energy Converters began as a consolidated field, but it wasn’t until between the late 1990’s and the beginnings of the 21st century that the sector boomed. Unlike many other renewable energy forms, the wave energy can be considered as a teenager, almost ready to show the world its enormous potential. Many prototypes are being tested throughout the oceans and even some commercial wave energy plant has been set already. Its growth is being unbalanced though. There are no current and prospective research studies with this scope for the Mediterranean Sea, it seems logical so the Mediterranean Sea is one of the least energetic seas in the world but this doesn’t exclude the fact that also in the Mediterranean Sea there is wave energy to be exploited and the purpose of this work is to initiate that path. The point absorber is the type of Wave Energy Converter chosen, it consist of a floating body that exploiting the motion produced by an incident wave generates electricity via an electric linear generator. Several simulations have been done with different kinds of buoys in two different locations in the Mediterranean Sea, Alghero and Mazara. The simulation’s goal is to compute the output power of the devices and although the values state that the average extracted energy is of minor entity than the ones tested in big oceans such as the Atlantic Ocean or the Pacific Ocean, where the wave energetic regime is much higher, the results are hopeful, confirming its feasibility and opening a new door to renewable energies in the Mediterranean regions. The conclusions drawn in this work are always under the bases that there is still a lot of work to do and a full sea of possibilities.