Energy from photovoltaics and microalgae cultivation. Two initiatives in one site. The challenge to demonstrate that there can be an integrability between the two technologies starts from Enea center of Portici. To give legs to the project, the agreement between Enel Green Power (which within the Enel group deals with the development and management of renewables worldwide, with a presence in Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa and Oceania) and the Enea agency (13 research centers and large laboratories on the national territory with about 2,600 researchers, technologists and support staff).
Starting point, the construction of the pilot plant where the experimentation of the two technologies will take place. A scalability analysis for «applications on a large photovoltaic system» will be carried out on the site, moving on a parallel track.
Innovative technologies
The experimentation, which travels with “innovative technologies”, involves the cultivation of microalgae with a high commercial value (between 100 and 200 euros per kilogram) with a cultivation system fully integrated with the photovoltaic system.
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One of the main advantages of this double activity, as confirmed by Enea, is the production of electricity from renewable sources and valuable substances for food and supplements. Then there is also the reduction of CO2 emissions that are absorbed and transformed into biomass, and those that are avoided with self-production from photovoltaics.
Algovoltaic
“With this agreement – says Ezio Terzini, director of the Enea division of Photovoltaics and Smart Devices in the Energy Technologies and Renewable Sources department – we are launching a new possible synergy for the shared use of the land that we have defined, with our brand, ‘algovoltaic’ , one of the opportunities of the agricultural sector, a sector in which we are investing a lot of resources to implement the guidelines also contained in the NRP ».
A theme that, as the director of the research agency underlines, “is part of the path towards the national decarbonisation objectives of the Pniec, with a sustainable approach, focused on the use of photovoltaics, the enhancement of crops and the landscape and social acceptability “.