Boosting Blue Growth in a Mild Sea: Analysis of the Synergies Produced by a Multi-Purpose Offshore Installation in the Northern Adriatic, Italy

Barbara Zanuttigh, Elisa Angelelli, Giorgio Bellotti, Alessandro Romano, Yukiko Krontira, Dimitris Troianos, Roberto Suffredini, Giulia Franceschi, Matteo Cantù, Laura Airoldi, Fabio Zagonari, Andrea Taramelli, Federico Filipponi, Carlos Jimenez, Marina Evriviadou and Stefanie Broszeit
Additional contact information
Barbara Zanuttigh: Department of Civil, Chemicals, Environmental and Material Engineering—University of Bologna, Viale Risorgimento 2, 40136 Bologna, Italy
Elisa Angelelli: Department of Civil, Chemicals, Environmental and Material Engineering—University of Bologna, Viale Risorgimento 2, 40136 Bologna, Italy
Giorgio Bellotti: Department of Engineering Università degli Studi Roma TRE, Via Vito Volterra 62, 00146 Rome, Italy
Alessandro Romano: Department of Engineering Università degli Studi Roma TRE, Via Vito Volterra 62, 00146 Rome, Italy
Yukiko Krontira: Kefalonia Fisheries S.A.—Livadi, Lixouri, 28200 Kefalonia, Greece
Dimitris Troianos: Kefalonia Fisheries S.A.—Livadi, Lixouri, 28200 Kefalonia, Greece
Roberto Suffredini: ENEL Ingegneria e Ricerca—Via A. Pisano 120, Pisa 56122, Italy
Giulia Franceschi: ENEL Ingegneria e Ricerca—Via A. Pisano 120, Pisa 56122, Italy
Matteo Cantù: ENEL Ingegneria e Ricerca—Via A. Pisano 120, Pisa 56122, Italy
Laura Airoldi: Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Science, BIGEA, University of Bologna, Via S. Alberto 163, 48123 Ravenna, Italy
Fabio Zagonari: Department of Economics, University of Bologna, via Angherà 22, 47921 Rimini, Italy
Andrea Taramelli: Institute for the Protection Environmental Research, Via Vitaliano Brancati 48, 00144 Rome, Italy
Federico Filipponi: Institute for the Protection Environmental Research, Via Vitaliano Brancati 48, 00144 Rome, Italy
Carlos Jimenez: Energy, Environment and Water Research Center, The Cyprus Institute, 20 Konstantinou Kavafi Street, 2121 Aglantzia, CY-1645 Nicosia, Cyprus
Marina Evriviadou: Energy, Environment and Water Research Center, The Cyprus Institute, 20 Konstantinou Kavafi Street, 2121 Aglantzia, CY-1645 Nicosia, Cyprus
Stefanie Broszeit: Plymouth Marine Laboratory, The Hoe, Prospect Place, PL1 3DH Plymouth, UK

Sustainability, 2015, vol. 7, issue 6, 1-50

Abstract: In the near future, the oceans will be subjected to a massive development of marine infrastructures, including offshore wind, tidal and wave energy farms and constructions for marine aquaculture. The development of these facilities will unavoidably exert environmental pressures on marine ecosystems. It is therefore crucial that the economic costs, the use of marine space and the environmental impacts of these activities remain within acceptable limits. Moreover, the installation of arrays of wave energy devices is still far from being economically feasible due to many combined aspects, such as immature technologies for energy conversion, local energy storage and moorings. Therefore, multi-purpose solutions combining renewable energy from the sea (wind, wave, tide), aquaculture and transportation facilities can be considered as a challenging, yet advantageous, way to boost blue growth. This would be due to the sharing of the costs of installation and using the produced energy locally to feed the different functionalities and optimizing marine spatial planning. This paper focuses on the synergies that may be produced by a multi-purpose offshore installation in a relatively calm sea, i.e. , the Northern Adriatic Sea, Italy, and specifically offshore Venice. It analyzes the combination of aquaculture, energy production from wind and waves, and energy storage or transfer. Alternative solutions are evaluated based on specific criteria, including the maturity of the technology, the environmental impact, the induced risks and the costs. Based on expert judgment, the alternatives are ranked and a preliminary layout of the selected multi-purpose installation for the case study is proposed, to further allow the exploitation of the synergies among different functionalities.

Keywords: marine renewable energy; aquaculture; energy storage/transfer; multi-purpose offshore platforms; sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

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