Malta is located in one of the best places in the Mediterranean to produce energy from wind and waves, according to University of Athens professor George Kallos.

“I think having an offshore combined system would be the best approach as you can’t use the island itself. Having an offshore platform where you can install wind and wave-powered energy generation systems and then lay a cable is something which I think is very viable and promising,” Prof. Kallos said, speaking at a seminar on Wave Energy in the Mediterranean.

The Greek academic said the natural resources were available and that at this stage it was only a matter of “using the proper converters – the machines to convert the natural energy and frequencies into energy or electricity”.

Malta could learn from Crete, which managed to generate 30 per cent of its energy from wind parks and solar energy, above the 20 per cent threshold imposed by the EU, Prof. Kallos said.

“The system is maintainable because we forecast the winds, this tells us how much energy will be produced and then we prepare the backup generators accordingly.”

This kind of “intelligent” technology could well be a solution to harness wave power, which is re-emerging as a viable form of renewable energy after being obscured by solar and wind energy.

“Prof. Kallos’s models are useful because we can have sensors, which are nowadays common, which could tell us the strength of an incoming wave. This allows us to set the system to prepare itself so that the maximum amount of energy is absorbed and then generated,” said Björn Welander, director of Maltese company Vigourtech.

The company is currently applying for funds to use Malta as a research and development base for wave energy converters (WECs) and there are also plans for it to manufacture them on the islands. It is working in conjunction with OWEC, a US-based company that has been researching wave-generated power since the 1970s.

Data on wave energy will be shared with Euromed Ltd, a company linked to Danish WEC company Dexawave, which will be literally testing the waters around the island for their products.

Both companies are working in close conjunction with the Department of Industrial Electrical Power Conversion within the University of Malta’s engineering faculty.

Speaking during the seminar, Cedric Caruana, a lecturer within the department, said wave energy provided 15-20 times more energy per square metre than either wind or solar but that the major challenge was how to transport the energy from the offshore platforms to the grid. Transmission options ranged from high voltage alternating or direct current, as well as the possibility of converting the wave energy to hydrogen via electrolysis of treated salt water and transporting hydrogen.

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