Architects, engineers and technology suppliers were given an opportunity to mingle with academics and experts involved in research on clean energy at the annual conference of the University’s Institute of Sustainable Energy (ISE) last month.
Out on the open sea, away from land, the wind is stronger and less turbulent- Anne Zammit
During the morning session an overview of the institute’s research programme was given. This was followed by a keynote presentation on solar systems for heating and cooling of buildings by Martin Henning, deputy director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems.
Solar heating and cooling technologies are set to provide a market opportunity for building owners, planners, manufacturers, and installation companies.
A design study of a solar system for a virtual hotel in Malta featured photovoltaic modules in combination with electrically driven heat pumps.
Attard Bros Ltd, a manufacturer of building blocks, joined forces with the University in another study comparing traditional cement blocks with therma-blocks, which insulate 43 per cent better than the required legal standard. Load design and increasing energy efficiency in industrial electric motors were also discussed.
Energy systems modeling has become an important tool to help decision-makers plan ahead. The institute is urging that the insulation of single walls and development of a local market for heat pump water heaters are encouraged and financially supported.
As part of the studies carried out by the ISE, energy performance ratings for an apartment in Malta were compared using more versatile software, inputting weather data from Malta International Airport and solar radiation data provided by the institute. As there is currently no official software for rating energy performance of non-residential buildings in Malta this alternative could prove very useful.
Spain has introduced legislation regarding the use of dual software to facilitate the issuing energy performance certificates. Hopefully Malta will follow suit.
During the afternoon session, structural engineer Fredrick Ellul gave a detailed view of the process required of the developer in the design and construction of foundations for an offshore wind farm.
Faced with rising development costs and slowing economic growth, companies involved in setting up wind farms are reducing construction times, shortening supply chains and installing larger turbines to boost their energy yield.
Out on the open sea, away from land, the wind is stronger and less turbulent.
“This is where the industry will go,” said Dr Ellul, although commercialisation of floating platforms may not be realised until some time after 2020. For the next decade it appears the focus will continue to be set on wind turbines fixed to the seabed.
Yet with coastal pressures on the increase and aesthetic concerns ever present, research and development of deep offshore floating wind turbines is both ongoing and long term.
It is claimed that turbines on floating platforms have less impact on sea life. Less core sampling is needed to test the seabed ahead of appropriate anchor selection. On the other hand, foundations for turbines that are fixed to the sea bed require core sampling at every pile-driving site. Near-shore sites are often the more ecologicallysensitive ones.
Hywind, the world’s first full-scale floating wind turbine located 10 kilometres off the Norwegian coast, is expected to become viable on the global energy market only if costs can be reduced.
After trying out its own prototype in southern Italian waters in 2008, a Dutch company named Blue H is presently engaged in further research in waters off the Brittany coast in a separate venture.
Whether fixed or floating, manufacturers of offshore wind energy technology are battling it out for a piece of the ocean’s turf in the battle of the big turbines. The industry’s leading players are aiming at seven megawatt machines with rotor diameters of up to 154 metres.
Prototypes of these giant wind turbines are expected to be on the market within the next year or two. Most could be converted to fit floating structures for use in deeper water.
A seventh framework programme (FP7) to develop offshore wind farms using deep water technology is the single largest research and development project to be co-funded by the EU to date.
The ‘Hyperwind’ project aims to enable very large wind power installations in much deeper waters than is possible today, unlocking a vast additional energy resource in European seas deeper than 50 metres. First in the world to test cost-effective approaches to floating offshore wind turbines, the project hopes to gain real sea experience and data on a megawatt scale.
The consortium, led by Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy Systems Technology, brings together a strong team of European partners from industry, research and enterprise.
In recent years there has been talk locally of a deep sea energy harnessing scheme by the Planning and Priorities Co-ordination Unit of the Office of the Prime Minister. Unfortunately this project has been, to some extent, bedevilled with delays and EU bureaucracy.
The proposal from Malta for a demonstration floating offshore wind energy platform is linked to gaining emissions trading credits amounting to 200 tonnes of carbon dioxide spread across participating countries.
But the European Investment Bank only received the carbon allowances in December and now has to ‘monetise’ them.
It could take up until October to determine how the credits translate into funds. Meanwhile the expected announcement of eligible projects due out last month has been postponed.
Emissions trading has a dark history that must be left behind. During the initial phase of the EU emissions trading scheme (2005-2007) pollution credits were grossly over-allocated by several countries, leading to an undesired effect. Billions of euros of windfall profits and no reduction in overall EU emissions badly undermined credibility and prompted the European Commisision to review the scheme.
A new directive that details how CO2 allowances (rights to emit one tonne of carbon dioxide) should be auctioned is not due to come into force until 2013.
The new directive introduced a total of 300 million tonnes of carbon allowances as a new entrants reserve. Each allowance, thought to be worth around €15 at the start of the scheme, is to be sold on the now volatile carbon market.
A financing instrument watchdog monitors every move by the European Investment Bank and European Commission on funding for installations of innovative renewable technologies in member countries. The fate of Malta’s floating offshore wind platform proposal can be followed on www.NER300.com.
razammit@hotmail.org