Montenegro meeting: a strong impulse to achieve the Project Powered goals

On October 30th and 31st was held in Podgorica, Montenegro, the new official meeting among the partners of the European Project Powered (Project of Offshore Wind Energy: Research, Experimentation, Development, funded by the Project of cross-border cooperation IPA Adriatic), to make the point on the progress and the steps planned to achieve the goals of the project: to collect, through the use of sophisticated anemometers and innovative mathematical models, scientific data in order to assess the technical and economic conditions to start investments in power plants offshore wind in the Adriatic Sea. The most important news has been announced by Prof. Ricci from Polytechnic University of Marche: after the positive resolution of understandable legal technical difficulties, by the end of November will be released an European call for tenders to identify the specialized subjects that will realize the support towers and the installation of a first block of anemometers on both sides of the ‘Adriatic.
Project Powered plans to create a network of newly developed anemometers: each apparatus for measuring the strength of the wind will be installed on towers of 45 meters, placed both on the land and in the sea. So it will be possible to detect accurately the real potential of wind in the Adriatic sea and the chance to exploit it to run offshore wind power plants. The data are highly accurate: the big international banks consider them trustworthy to decide on the investments eligibility. The stretch of sea off the coast of Marche is one among the locations to install the anemometers: it will be used an Eni platform, hundred feet high, on which will be built a tower of the same height.
Antonio Sorgi, the Energy sector general director of Abruzzo Region (Project Powered lead partner), with the collaboration of all partners, carried out a careful analysis about the progress of the project and the individual work packages. Among the elements to be reported, the ‘core’ of the project, the analysis of wind conditions in the Adriatic, has already taken a significant step forward, thanks to the good work of Marche Polytechnic University, led by Professor Renato Ricci. The mathematical model used by the Marche Polytechnic University researchers is very advanced and has a novelty: the model is able to calculate the power of the wind with a detail to a square kilometre. The model is able to provide a very reliable picture of the strength of the wind in Adriatic, which will be further verified by data provided by the Powered anemometers network. Thanks to the model, it has been confirmed the potential of wind in Adriatic grows proceeding from north to south, even if there are considerable variability at the local level.
To develop wind energy and to pay back the investment in the present conditions of incentive, both of Italy and of the eastern Adriatic countries, it is needed an average wind of at least 7 meters per second at hub height: such conditions, according to the model, are present in some coastal areas of Abruzzo, Molise and Puglia in Italy, and in some parts of Albania, Montenegro and Croatia for the eastern Adriatic countries. Professor Renato Ricci has also ensured that his team is able to increase the accuracy of the mathematical model, on particularly suited areas, reaching a detail up to 200 meters spatial step.
It would also be possible, when the project will be carried out, to understand in a better way the wind potential in some coastal areas of the project partners, that are potentially interesting to install wind power plants: like the Adriatic ports with suitable characteristics. The aim is to contribute to the gradual transformation of the Adriatic seaports in modern ‘green port’, in which the contribution of renewable energy will grow progressively.
The meeting also gave a positive account of the progress of the tasks related to the laws of the States and the environmental impact issues: it has been  started an analysis on guidelines to be drawn up for making the offshore development in the growing areas of ‘Adriatic area viable and sustainable.
The contribution of the partner that hosted the meeting has been very important: the Ministry of Energy of Montenegro representative has shown the growing commitment of his country, which is in pre-accession to the EU, to implement the European Directive 2009/28/CE (so-called ’20 20 20) and, in particular, to strengthen the commitment to develop renewable sources. The strategy of the Balkan country is based on the further development of hydroelectric power (which already represents a significant share of the nation’s energy production), the strong development of solar energy, both thermal and photovoltaic, and exploitation of onshore and offshore wind potential. About it, Montenegro has authorized the construction of two wind farms on Mozura (46 MW) and Krnovo (72 MW) and is working with some European countries, particularly active in the wind energy sector, to carry out a detailed study on the chance to create wind farms in the coastal area of Ulcjni and Bar. Hence the strong interest of Montenegro for Project Powered: to explore scientifically the full potential of exploitation of the wind resource to realize, later, with the help of investors, wind farms (in particular offshore).
At the end of the meeting, the partners agreed that the next one will take place in late January 2013 in Albania (Tirana), and it will have as main topics the results of European competitive tender to assign the installation of anemometers and how to install them. Partners also agreed to organize, during spring 2013, a succession of conferences on specific topics related to Project Powered: Ravenna (wind power and green port), in Venice (climate change, renewable energy and role of wind energy) and Ancona (physical models and mathematical development of off shore in the Adriatic).

This post is also available in: Italian