OES Annual Report 2012 - Ocean Energy Systems

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Administration (Regione Siciliana), in the framework of European Union Structural Funds. This project has
been disseminated among the developing countries in which the United Nations Industrial Development
Organization (UNIDO) operates and three first countries that expressed interest. These countries were the
People’s Republic of China, the Philippines, and Indonesia. A joint-venture was created, under the auspices
of UNIDO, between “Ponte di Archimede” and the Indonesian Walinusa Energy Corporation.
A prototype is being built and it will placed on the Lomboc Island (the island immediately at east of Bali),
where it could feed energy to a small village. The Indonesian plant will have blades length 7 m, (chord 0,4
m) and diameter 5 m (intercepted area 35 m 2 ). The power could be about 120-150 kW.
Ponte di Archimede International has signed an agreement with the Dutch company Bluewater to develop
the Bluetec device with the scientific and technological support of ADAG Group from University of Naples
“Federico II”. This floating device will hold four Kobold turbines for a total power of about 1 MW and will
represent a single unit of a possible farm made by several Bluetec systems. Towing tank experiments have
been carried out both at Wageningen facilities and at University of Naples.
ISWEC Project
Sea waves are one of the most interesting and well distributed renewable energy sources in the world. At
the current state of the art, all the existing sea wave energy conversion systems are designed to operate
offshore, mainly in the oceans where the waves’ height is definitely high. In the Mediterranean Sea, waves
are generally low, except under particular meteorological conditions. Thus, it is necessary to develop
devices that can exploit other properties of the waves instead of their height, like wave slopes.
The mechanical conversion system, called ISWEC, that will be used for the development of the project
has been analysed by Politecnico di Torino and results show that the system possesses good potential for
energy conversion.
ISWEC device is composed mainly of a floating body with a slack mooring to the seabed. The waves tilt the
buoy with a rocking motion that is transmitted to the gyroscopic system inside the buoy. The gyroscopic
system is composed of a spinning flywheel carried on a platform. As the device works, the gyroscopic
effects born from the combination of the flywheel spinning velocity φ˙ and the wave induced pitching
velocity δ˙ create a torque along the ε coordinate. Using this torque to drive an electrical generator, the
extraction of energy from the system – and therefore from the waves – is possible.
Trials at various levels will be carried out: in the first phase, a set of “dry tests” will be carried out on a
controlled position mobile platform; in the second phase, a series of tests will be carried out in a tank, with
suitably generated and controlled waves. Finally, the system will be placed and tested on Pantelleria Island.
ISWEC drawing and scaled prototype in testing site
ANNUAL
REPORT 2012