During our journey from lab to spin-off of the Polytechnic University of Turin, in Wave for Energy we advance the know-how in the field of marine energy. The origins of our company date back to 2006, when researchers Giuliana Mattiazzo and Ermanno Giorcelli from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering of the Polytechnic University created a research team with the aim of generating new technologies to extract energy from the waves of the Mediterranean Sea. Afterwards, the research team founded Wave for Energy in 2010. Whereas in Wave for Energy we implement and industrialize the results of research and development efforts from the lab.

The Partnership with the Politecnico di Torino

Wave for Energy and the team at Politecnico di Torino share common know-how and a diversified set of skills. Hence we developed an innovative collaboration, which is key to develop advanced marine energy solutions . Several ambitious challenges born from the synergical work with Politecnico di Torino. For instance, developing technologies capable of producing renewable energy by converting the motion of the ocean waves. Thereafter with the aim of making it available for off-shore plants or into the power grid of coastal communities.

In 2015 we achieved one of the first milestones of the journey from lab to spin-off. In fact, we developed a device for the production of electricity from sea waves named ISWEC (Inertial Sea Wave Energy Converter). ISWEC technology was tested in 2015 off the coast of Pantelleria, and in 2016, thanks to the partnership with Eni, it was industrialized and is now in operation offshore Ravenna. The latter installation is the first offshore hybrid micro-grid in the world that increases the energy self-sufficiency of structures located far from the coast or from the continental grid. Moreover, the ISWEC represents a virtuous example of open innovation. Born in the research lab of Politecnico di Torino, the ISWEC technology has gone through all the steps towards its introduction in the market. And more recently Wave for Energy licensed it to a large industrial group such as Eni to complete its industrialization.

DIMEAS

The projects carried out by Wave for Energy arise from studies done at the DIMEAS deparment of Politecnico di Torino. DIMEAS stands for Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, which covers a wide spectrum of sectors related to the typical manufacturing of an advanced industrial society, with activities ranging from the most classical to cutting-edge domains in the areas of mechanics and aeronautics.

DIMEAS promotes, coordinates and manages several technological activities and projects in mechanical and aerospace fields. Some of the main activities occurring at DIMEAS are:

  • fundamental and applied research;
  • training;
  • technology transfer;
  • services to public administration and the territory in general.

The main fields of applications of DIMEAS range from the traditional automotive and aeronautical sectors up to new frontier research in space exploration and micro-/nano-technologies.

Pantelleria

(updated on December 14th, 2020)

Politecnico di Torino’s MORE Lab is continuing its commitment to support Italian islands sustainability goals. The MORE Lab, founded in 2020, aims to develop technologies to harness offshore renewable energy sources. It is headquartered in the Politecnico di Torino’s Energy Center. The latter is a multidisciplinary laboratory for the new energy transition. Inside, various research groups and enterprises develop models and scenarios to design increasingly interconnected energy systems.

The MORE Lab will now lead project RETRIEVE (Renewable energy generation via re-utilization of abandoned but valuable sites). Meanwhile, in October 2020 the team drafted the Island’s Energy Transition Agenda. In brief, in such document the team has outlineed Pantelleria’s long-term decarbonization strategy. And after the activities carried out on the island with Wave for Energy, Politecnico will collaborate on Pantelleria with:

Soon Sicily, already the cradle of the ISWEC technology, will see a new phase of prototype testing. In fact there our team will try to prove the capacity of the system to adapt to the variation of the weather and sea characteristics, optimizing its productivity.