Offshore wind power is perceived as one of the key pillars of a Blue economy. Offshore floating wind power relies on an intermittent renewable energy source, which is even more sporadic in a Central Mediterranean context. Meanwhile, Green Hydrogen is dubbed the fuel of the future and utilises water as a primary source. Its production involves various processes, including reverse osmosis desalination, electrolysis and compression for storage or transport. So, while offshore wind power appears to be good source of low carbon energy for producing Green Hydrogen in the Blue environment, the interlinking of different systems/processes would benefit from electrical power stabilisation. Storage decouples the demand of electrical energy from the supply, and can smoothen supply variability by mitigating intermittency. This project consists of a Techno-Economic feasibility focusing on the synergies and optimisation of an offshore system with Hydro-pneumatic Energy Storage system integrated between an intermittent offshore wind energy source and a co-located Hydrogen production plant operating under Central Mediterranean wind conditions.
The potential for utility-scale renewable energy projects on land in the Maltese islands has severe spatial limitations. However, the islands are surrounded by large territorial waters that offer significant offshore wind and solar potential that theoretically exceeds the energy demand required for decarbonising the local energy system. This research project deals with a novel floating breakwater concept designed to facilitate the large-scale integration of offshore solar and wind technologies in deep waters around islands by (1) creating sheltered waters, hence reducing the structural requirements to support solar and wind energy conversion systems and (2) integrating energy storage. The breakwater concept aims to co-locate solar, wind and storage assets together with other maritime activities, including aquaculture, ship berthing and charging of battery-powered ships to improve the overall viability of offshore renewables, while making more efficient use of marine space. The project will involve an in-depth hydrodynamic analysis of the proposed breakwater, establishing its wave attenuating characteristics using numerical modelling and lab testing. Computer simulations shall also be carried out to model the storage system performance in stabilising intermittent power generated from renewables. Finally, an economic feasibility for the proposed breakwater technology shall be conducted based on a case study for Malta and assuming multiple revenue streams.
Malta is an island that enjoys an average of 300 days of sunshine per year. However, with the island measuring just 316 km², Malta’s limited surface area means that, beyond the existing photovoltaic (PV) panels installed on rooftops or disused quarries, any land left for larger PV installations is scarce and expensive.
The Institute for Sustainable Energy at the University of Malta believes the answer to this problem lies not on land, but at sea. The project SolAqua is aimed towards installing the first cost-effective offshore PV installations. This idea has never progressed beyond the theoretical stage anywhere in the world.
Early phases of Solaqua have seen different types of prototypes deployed at sea. These ‘proofs of concept’ were possible thanks to funding from MCST and Malta Marittima (via Maritime Seed Award), with the support of the University’s Knowledge Transfer Office (KTO), Take Off and Centre for Entrepreneurship and Business Incubation (CEBI).
The SolAqua project is currently in the 2.1 phase thanks to a donation by REWS via RIDT. This phase aims to build raft prototypes and test them in simulated real life conditions. Furthermore, this phase will also include work on optimisation of the eventual PV installation.
In the next phase the Solaqua project hopes to deploy full scale prototypes at sea.