ISWEC: towards the sea

The first gyroscopic WEC specifically designed for Mediterranean Sea is finally meeting real waves! After a design optimization phase and a testing period at the construction site, ISWEC (Inertial Sea Wave Energy Converter) will be launched in Pantelleria (Sicily) setting two different and fairly ambitious targets. Firstly, the device will be presented to industrial market, demonstrating the feasibility and the opportunity to harvest the underestimated power of the Mediterranean Sea waves. On the other hand, from a research point of view, the prospect to use Mediterranean Sea as a “real wave tank” to test scaled oceanic devices will be highlighted. ISWEC, as all wave energy converters, is a complex device constituted by a set of subsystems particularly designed to work together. Each one is essential for the good operation of the device and most critical points in construction phase revealed to be interfaces among them from both mechanical and software points of view. I will present the device in its final features, describing the assembly of the different subsystems and the design improvements done. Furthermore, some new ideas for the next device will be shown together with the opportunity to install ISWEC in the ocean.