Overtopping Breakwater for Wave Energy Conversion at Port of Naples

In the last twenty years, a large part of the scientific community has been involved in the development of new technologies able to exploit the energy from the ocean. Only recently a new idea has been presented with the aim to reduce the cost of the device and also increasing their feasibility. This innovation consists of the integration of a Wave Converter into new or existing coastal structure. The main purposes of these “hybrid maritime structures” still remain the coastal/harbour protection from the wave motion, with the relevant added-value from the electricity production. The latest full-scale WEC device integrated into an existing maritime structure has been installed in 2016 at the Naples Harbour in Italy. The system is called OBREC (Overtopping BReakwater for Energy Conversion) and represents the first hybrid breakwater coupled with an Overtopping device that exploits the wave overtopping in order to capture part of the wave energy and convert into electricity. OBREC installation is not much more costly than building traditional breakwaters. It is built as a robust concrete structure with the turbine shaft and the gates controlling the water flow as virtually the only moving part in the mechanical system and the structure is safe even with malfunctioning of these moving parts. Other potential advantage may be the recirculation of water inside the harbour and the minimal environmental impact of the operating system.