Project Powered presented at Rio +20

Project Powered (Project of Offshore Wind Energy: Research, Experimentation, Development), of which the Abruzzo Region is the leading partner, was presented in Brazil at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, that is held in Rio De Janeiro from Wednesday 13th to Thursday 22nd of June: the project was presented yesterday, June 14th, in the Italian Pavilion, in the meeting ‘Offshore wind energy in southern Europe: building capabilities through Ipa-Powered Project’. Powered aims to verify whether there are in the Adriatic Sea the weather, technical and administrative prerequisites to exploit the wind energy.
The Rio initiative is part of a series of meetings and debates the Ministry of Environment organized in cooperation with the Forum das Americas and the World Federation of UN Associations (World Federation of United Nations Associations) – from June 13th to June 21st, to explore major issues and projects about the sustainable development. In this opportunity, in front of an audience of international experts, the Abruzzo Region will illustrate the first results of the study. The Minister for the Environment, Corrado Clini, who will represent Italy in Rio de Janeiro, confirmed the ‘Project Powered’ can represent a model and define the path for the development of offshore wind in the Adriatic sea. The objective of the Government is, in fact, to understand whether it is possible to develop wind power in the Adriatic sea, consistently with the preservation of the environment. Since the project will be concluded, that will be within three years, we expect to create the conditions for major industrial investments in wind off-shore in Italy, how is happening already in other European countries.
Abruzzo Region, creator of the project, is the head of a partnership network which includes the Ministry of Economy of Montenegro, Veneto Agriculture, the Province of Ravenna, Region Marche, Molise and Puglia, CETMA, the company Micoperi Ltd., the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Economy of Albania and the Croatian city of Komiza. The study develops the possibility of installing a network of anemometers along the two coasts of the Adriatic, both offshore and inland, capable of collecting extremely sophisticated data about the strength of the winds. The anemometer will be placed in open sea, on piles of variable-height between 40 and 60 meters. The anemometers will collect extremely accurate scientific data, which will be gathered by the Aeronautic meteorological centre: the analysis of these data will allow to check carefully whether there are areas of the Adriatic Euroregion with favourable climatic conditions to tap the wind energy. The data collected from anemometers will be published on the website http://www.powered-ipa.it, where you can also follow the steps of the project and check the press release. The Director of Regional Affairs of the Presidency and the energy sector policies of the Region, Antonio Sorgi, is the head of the delegation from Abruzzo in Rio de Janeiro. “Having the opportunity to present Powered in a so prestigious forum, in the Italy Pavilion – said Sorgi – means to earn a spotlight for the project and, consequently, its worldwide validation. In Rio, in fact, we will present the first results of the study, from which may arise a confrontation that will surely be enriched by consideration and observation of industry experts from all over the world at this global event. Our hope is to draw useful information to improve the scope and the quality of the project, which benefits of an investment of 4 million 400 thousand euro and has to be completed by February 2014. The appointment of Rio +20 – continues Sorgi – is even more important if we consider that comes 20 years after the first world conference on Earth, that took place in the Brazilian metropolis.” At the presentation of Project Powered, besides Sorgi, who is also the head of the steering committee, will attend by Roberto Binatti (Ministry of the Environment, Land and Sea of Italy), professor Renato Ricci, professor at the University Politecnica of Marche and responsible for the scientific committee, Ercole Cauti, of Metron Group and project manager of Powered, and Mara Roncuzzi, councillor for environmental affairs of the Province of Ravenna.

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