Techno-Feasibility Assessment of a Floating Breakwater Concept for Supporting Marine Renewables in Deep Waters

Andrew Borg, Charise Cutajar, Tonio Sant (), Robert N. Farrugia and Daniel Buhagiar
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Andrew Borg: Faculty of Engineering, University of Malta, MSD 2080 Msida, Malta
Charise Cutajar: Faculty of Engineering, University of Malta, MSD 2080 Msida, Malta
Tonio Sant: Faculty of Engineering, University of Malta, MSD 2080 Msida, Malta
Robert N. Farrugia: Institute for Sustainable Energy, University of Malta, MXK 1531 Marsaxlokk, Malta
Daniel Buhagiar: FLASC B.V., Paardenmarkt 1, 2611 PA Delft, The Netherlands

Energies, 2024, vol. 17, issue 11, 1-30

Abstract: The previous research has proven that one of the fundamental requirements for ensuring increased profitability and economic competitiveness in offshore-based projects is co-locating different technologies within the same marine space. This paper presents a number of techno-feasibility analyses for floating offshore technologies for the Maltese Islands, located in the central Mediterranean Sea. The first part compares the feasibility between offshore floating solar photovoltaics with onshore-based systems, taking into consideration Malta’s average land rental price per square metre. The second part considers the use of a novel floating breakwater design that integrates energy storage and creates a sheltered water area for a multi-use marine park, thus introducing different revenue streams. The latter includes renting the sheltered marine space out to operators of floating solar farms, aquaculture cages and vessel berthing facilities, as well as the provision of energy storage services. It is found that the combined income from the multiple revenue streams from the multi-use marine park is still insufficient to justify the investment and that financial support from governments is essential to render the floating breakwaters viable.

Keywords: floating breakwaters; multi-use offshore space; offshore hydro-pneumatic energy storage; offshore renewables (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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