(The submarine volcano Marsili)
few weeks will begin the exploration phase (the first) Marsili the project, the first attempt exploitation of geothermal energy in the world of underwater , an experiment carried out by the company Marche Eurobuilding in conjunction with a scientific committee composed among others by the National Institute of Geology and Volcanology (INGV) and the Institute of marine geology of the CNR. In open sea, several hundred meters deep and about 150 km off the coast of Calabria and Sicily, after appropriate monitoring and sampling, probes pilot drill a hole in a precise point of Marsili Volcano, an active underwater volcano which is also the most largest volcano in Europe, 3000 meters high (the summit is 450 meters below the surface of the Tyrrhenian Sea), 70 km long and 30 wide. It clearly represents a huge source of heat, as the sea water usually infiltrates within the submarine volcanoes may heat up to 400 ° and reach pressures above 200 bar, the exploratory phase of the project will target exactly what Marsili to collect all the information necessary to understand the exact extent of this potential radiator and the composition and salinity of the water, the magnetic fields and the level of seismic activity of the volcano. Thanks to the model of submarine geothermal field will be processed on the basis of these data, we can then move to the drilling of a special drilling ship that led to the realization - perhaps by 2015 - and the implementation of the first geothermal power plant in the world in offshore extraction of high-enthalpy fluids (ie high temperature), through which the heat taken through a turbine will be transformed into mechanical energy, which in turn will generated electricity.
It is a futuristic project, which will draw from the first phase of the most modern and sophisticated technologies for oceanographic research, and certainly present different unknowns, is related to the costs that the difficulties of implementation, and also several risks, not so much in terms of the logistical difficulties typical of offshore installations, given the high reliability of modern technology in extreme conditions, and certainly not from an environmental perspective, since it does not alter the ecosystem, but rather for all This implies that the vitality of the dangerous volcano, which already said the President INGV Enzo Boschi had launched an alert about a year ago . That the project is
Marsili would be a great, great news, if this major project as part of research into geothermal energy does not constitute little more than an isolated case, if he relied on public funding as well as on private ones, or at least were not hampered by excessive bureaucracy. In fact, considering also the innovative nature of the project, it took three years Eurobuilding for the transfer to the exploration license for geothermal fluids in the Southern Tyrrhenian Sea, decreed in September 2009 by the Ministry of Economic Development.
More generally, despite Italy has one of the most important geothermal potential of Europe, due to a geological substratum very hot and very "alive", second perhaps only to that of Iceland, and despite the world's first geothermal power plant was built in 1904 just in Italy, in Larderello, near Pisa, in Tuscany in an area that includes the metalliferous hills and Monte Amiata and that to this day with several high-enthalpy geothermal plants covers one quarter of the energy needs of all the region, you can not just say that Italy has bet or is betting heavily on this energy source. In addition to the project Marsili fact there are currently very few innovative pilot projects that can open new roads to the exploitation of clean energy, renewable and available in large quantities: Pisa always a vast reservoir of water at approximately 50 degrees to 600 meters deep recently discovered will be used to heat the hospital Cisanello , as well as to supply a new spa and supply of energy that will arise some universities nearby. In Rome, Professor Franco Barberi , following his discovery of a large underground river with water at 20 ° a few tens of meters below the bed of the Tiber, is conducting a pilot project which will provide heating and cooling of some new university residences of Rome, for a total of over 30,000 cubic meters of buildings involved, with funding from the university itself. It should, however, added that despite the studies and discoveries Barberi go back now to more than two years ago, the local institutions still do not seem interested in the potential offered by the layers of heat in the capital, so that massive nell'ambiziosoe masterplan commissioned by Alemanno and drafted by the American economist Jeremy Rifkin, which by 2020 should be a model city of Rome from the perspective of environmental sustainability the word geothermal does not appear even once, while you prefer alternatives such as hydrogen or wind energy that certainly does not seem to be the natural vocation energy of the Eternal City.
In our country seems to be increasing above the low enthalpy geothermal that with a simple heat pump allows individual households to take advantage of the warmth that is found everywhere in the ground at constant temperatures to heat and cool environments. In 2009, installations of this type have increased by about two thirds, and although at present there are no incentives, with the CD decree geothermal last February have been simplified procedures for the authorization to start low geothermal and medium energy. It seems in fact that at least with regard to smaller plants that require lower temperatures, it may be expected our country in the near significant development.
Meanwhile the relationship Global Power and Geothermal Heat Pump Market Outlook 2010-2015 , produced by M & M (Markets and Markets) paints a very edifying. Writes the site geologi.info :
Shifting the focus on Europe at 27, Italy ranks second after Hungary with 500 MW installed geothermal power intended for direct use (pumps heat included). But things change dramatically if you go on to consider the utilization of geothermal energy for cooling systems civile.In this case, Italy ranks only the 14th behind countries such as Lithuania and Latvia. In this area, the Italian market has grown little in recent years compared to what happened in other European countries. Suffice it to say that in 2005 there were 120 MW installed in Italy and in 2008 there were 150 MW.Nello same period of time Germany has risen from 681 MW to 1,652 MW, and France from 702 to 1,366 MW. These increases three times higher than national ones that show the backwardness of the country in the adoption of these renewable thermal albeit in the presence of a national industry leader worldwide.
rises a question: What are your major alternative energy projects such as the revival of nuclear power or the many pipelines in the process of implementation between the Caucasus and North Africa and Italy to distract from the political solution to hand represented by deposits of underground heat? Or is the spread of small low-enthalpy geothermal plants to go against the interests of producers and managers of the expensive and polluting geothermal energy that would replace?
What is certain is that the offshore Central above the volcano Marsili could see the light in 2015 could have a production capacity of around 800 MW - 1 GW, with a planned annual production of about 1.3 TWh, equivalent to almost that of a nuclear power plant of medium size, with only half the time and cost of implementation.
Today the Council of Ministers approved some changes to the legislative decree 31/2010 issued last February and which provided the criteria for the siting, construction and operation of all facilities required to nuclear energy production, among other things, the decree reflects the findings of today posed by the Constitutional Court, that requires a prior opinion, although not binding, regions interested in hosting plants. In essence, the government tries to revive the project of Italy's return to nuclear after months of impasse , first due to the resignation of Scajola, then to the more general paralysis of all government activity which lasts since last summer, resulting in half-term the Government as part of the revival of nuclear power is barely able to put on the Agency for Nuclear Safety . But now the government tries to give new impetus to the entire decision-making process, and reiterates its intention not being influenced by the local bodies in the name of paramount national interest, as well as exposing his strategy for the identification of sites where there were nuclear power plants: in fact today among the changes to the text of Decree 31/2010 stands out the transition from compensatory measures related "to the more frank and understandable " its economic benefits" (from Time ), in which the central state will compensate the affected regions. Money - lots of money - to local these days so hungry and have no resources: it will be easy to convince municipalities and regions with water in the throat, perhaps at the center and south, even if the power will devour the more industrialized north.
So the government proceeds with his head down, even if, as has often been reiterated , technology (developed by AREVA in France) who has chosen to use nuclear is the third generation of advanced EPR type where for "advanced " means only higher safety standards than conventional power stations, while EPR means "European Pressurized Reactor," European pressurized water nuclear reactor, a technology that is used in the fission process in the natural water-cooled cooling core and moderation of neutrons. Unfortunately, the case of technology that, whatever people may say, does not offer adequate guarantees, or under construction (as evidenced by the sensational case of Olkiluoto ), nor during operation: it is a few days ago, news of a serious Nuclear accident in Tricastin , and always in these days a number of anomalies were found at least 34 of the 58 nuclear reactors on the territory of France, does sometimes cover the emergency cooling circuits, sometimes the generators that should ensure the safe shutdown of the reactor in case of blackouts on the national grid. Unknowns to which we will account for his choice of the EPR technology, are then added up those typical and well known on the storage of nuclear waste, the actual benefits to the energy bill, and on the supply of uranium, an issue that would not help diriment some of Italy to emancipate itself from its dependence on energy.
And to think that would be enough satisfy the first and most natural calling efficiency of our territory ...
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