Wave energy exploitation in Italian seas: a feasibility study

In this paper the feasibility of wave energy exploitation off the Italian coasts is investigated. At this aim, the energy production is estimated considering two of the most promising offshore technologies: the AquaBuOY device and the Pelamis device. The hypothetical wave farms are installed at two of the most energetic sites off the Italian West Mediterranean coast: Alghero and Mazara del Vallo. The Pelamis device provides the highest annual energy production with 8% capacity factor at both sites. Higher capacity factors can be obtained by scaling the devices in order to have the maximum power output for the typical wavelength of the investigated sites. At Alghero the optimal scaling of the devices is 1:2 and 1:2.5 for Pelamis and AquaBuOY, respectively, and it allows to increase the capacity factors up to 15%. If such devices could accommodated this downscaling, their performance in energy conversion could become economically attractive also for Italian seas.