Italian Startup Testing Offshore Wind Energy Storage Technology Off Calabria

Italian startup Sizable Energy has begun testing an offshore energy storage technology designed to store electricity generated by offshore wind farms and other renewable energy sources at the Natural Ocean Engineering Laboratory (NOEL) off the coast of Calabria, Italy.

The demonstrator, installed in April at the University Mediterranea of Reggio Calabria’s offshore test site, consists of a floating reservoir measuring 50 metres in diameter.

According to Sizable Energy, the principle is the same as that of pumped hydro plants, but unlike traditional pumped hydro facilities that rely on elevation differences between mountain reservoirs, Sizable uses hydrostatic pressure and gravity offshore.

The system stores excess renewable electricity by pumping a dense brine solution into the floating reservoir and releases it to a second reservoir on the seabed when electricity demand increases, driving turbines to generate power.

The technology is being developed to offer an alternative to battery energy storage systems (BESS), according to the company.

On 29 July, France-headquartered global logistics provider GEODIS said that it carried out engineering for the launching, towing, and installation operations of the offshore energy storage tank for Sizable Energy. 

GEODIS was responsible for the lifting, transport and installation engineering, including crane positioning, lifting plans, towing procedures and mooring operations, as well as on-site technical supervision during deployment.

According to GEODIS, the offshore reservoir weighs approximately 11 tonnes and required a 350-tonne crane with an outreach of around 50 metres to launch the structure while meeting site and environmental constraints.

The testing campaign at NOEL is planned to validate the technology at a pre-industrial scale and refine the launch and installation methods ahead of commercial deployment.

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