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The future of clean marine energy is in the ports

The generation of renewable energy through the wave force of the sea waves is a viable and sustainable alternative to the growing demand. The Maritime and Logistics Cluster of the Balearic Islands held a working day this morning to specifically address the feasibility of the first pilot experience of the ROE (Renewable Ocean Energy) project carried out in Cantabria.


This innovative project, developed by the companies ROE and Sunwa Technologies and the University of the Balearic Islands, makes it possible to generate renewable energy from the wave force of sea waves, through a unique technology on the market in terms of performance and cost. .


The conference was attended by, among others, Iolanda Piedra, president of the Balearic Islands Maritime and Logistics Cluster; Juan Pedro Yllanes, Vice President of the Government of the Balearic Islands; Juan Luis Sánchez, president of the Maritime Cluster of Cantabria – MarCA; and Daniel Alvear, General Director of Industry, Energy and Mines of the Government of Cantabria. Also participating in the event were Antonio Cañellas, CEO of Renewable Ocean Energy, and Jaume Carot, Rector of the University of the Balearic Islands.


ROE's innovative component focuses on the marine hydraulic turbine that can be built and attached with an auxiliary anchorage to port breakwaters. Its hydraulic system has the capacity to take advantage of the energy produced by the waves when they break against the breakwaters, generating an average electricity of 15 Kw/h to 25 KW/h per unit.


Antonio Cañellas explained that wave energy "is not a type of energy that is going to replace it, but rather adds to it". The advantage over solar energy is that the ROE project technology can produce the same amount of renewable energy in 100 m2 as in 1,200 m2 of photovoltaic energy. In addition, power can be obtained between 16 and 24 hours a day no matter it is at night.


The CEO of ROE has indicated that the cost of the first turbine, which must be specific for each port by studying its currents and tides and which is manufactured with recycled and recyclable materials, would be around 1.2 million euros, but that the production of subsequent replicas reduces the cost to 250,000 euros. In the prototype designed for the Mediterranean, the turbine is completely submerged in the water to avoid damage in the event of a storm.


The Vice President and Minister of Energy Transition, Productive Sectors and Democratic Memory, Juan Pedro Yllanes, has remarked that the Government is promoting the transition to a new sustainable model and has stated that wave energy “has a lot of potential, always respecting environmental criteria. We want all ports to end up hosting energy generation systems with the forces of the waves”.


Iolanda Piedra, president of the Maritime and Logistics Cluster of the Balearic Islands, highlighted at the meeting that "if the most polluting sectors have to be pointed out, energy is one of them". In this sense, Piedra considers it necessary to “bet on the generation of renewable energy in order to reduce CO2 emissions in its production process. It is key that new initiatives in renewable energy generation do not interfere with the activity of other sectors. In the case of ROE, there is no impact on maritime tourism, maritime transport, nautical or fishing, since being a technology that will be installed in the breakwaters, it does not cause any modification in the landscape or in the activity of these sectors”.




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