In recent years there has been a growing interest in offshore wind energy thanks to the various advantages it offers. The offshore wind energy is used for the production of electric energy above all in the shallow waters but different research activities and large-scale demonstrations are also under way for the deep waters with scientific and technological advances that open possibilities also for new markets such as the Mediterranean Sea. In this context, the present paper aims to estimate the large-scale offshore wind production of the Mediterranean Sea. The methodology uses an open GIS platform and considers bathymetric data, annual average wind speed data, environmental data, turbines technical characteristics and administrative information. Three depth categories have been considered. The overlap between depth categories and annual average wind speeds ranges has allowed to determine the areas potentially suitable for wind farms allocation. On the basis of optimal wind farm layouts and of the characteristic of the type of turbines considered, the theoretical maximum annual offshore wind production has been estimated for whole Mediterranean area and it is about 742 TWh/year. Moreover, for each depth category, the theoretical annual wind offshore production for each Mediterranean country has been estimated.

Large-scale offshore wind production in the Mediterranean Sea

Pantusa D.;Tomasicchio G.
2019-01-01

Abstract

In recent years there has been a growing interest in offshore wind energy thanks to the various advantages it offers. The offshore wind energy is used for the production of electric energy above all in the shallow waters but different research activities and large-scale demonstrations are also under way for the deep waters with scientific and technological advances that open possibilities also for new markets such as the Mediterranean Sea. In this context, the present paper aims to estimate the large-scale offshore wind production of the Mediterranean Sea. The methodology uses an open GIS platform and considers bathymetric data, annual average wind speed data, environmental data, turbines technical characteristics and administrative information. Three depth categories have been considered. The overlap between depth categories and annual average wind speeds ranges has allowed to determine the areas potentially suitable for wind farms allocation. On the basis of optimal wind farm layouts and of the characteristic of the type of turbines considered, the theoretical maximum annual offshore wind production has been estimated for whole Mediterranean area and it is about 742 TWh/year. Moreover, for each depth category, the theoretical annual wind offshore production for each Mediterranean country has been estimated.
File in questo prodotto:
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11587/435681
 Attenzione

Attenzione! I dati visualizzati non sono stati sottoposti a validazione da parte dell'ateneo

Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 21
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 17
social impact