6533b862fe1ef96bd12c6beb

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Desalination in small islands: the case study of Lampedusa (Italy)

Marco TrapaneseVincenzo Frazitta

subject

Energy demandbiologybusiness.industry020209 energy02 engineering and technologybiology.organism_classificationDesalinationElectrical gridRenewable energyWater scarcityMediterranean seaElectricity generationEnvironmental protection0202 electrical engineering electronic engineering information engineeringEnvironmental sciencebusinessLampedusa

description

Desalination represents a common solution to overcome the water scarcity in small island. A case study is presented, considering the island of Lampedusa, located at south of Sicily (Italy). As many small islands in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, Lampedusa presents a small standalone electrical grid, entrusted to old diesel engines. For more, the renewable energy sources are extremely underdeveloped in this territory. Lampedusa is regularly affected by water scarcity, so freshwater is produced by desalination plant and sometimes transported by boat from Sicily. As sustainable solution, the paper firstly analyses the energy demand for desalination and then proposes the installation of a renewable energy mix, based on sea wave, wind and solar. For the exploitation of the first source, an innovative technology in development step at the Department of Energy of Palermo University is presented.

yearjournalcountryeditionlanguage
2018-10-01OCEANS 2018 MTS/IEEE Charleston
https://doi.org/10.1109/oceans.2018.8604484