Assessment of Tidal-Current Energy Resource in the Strait of Messina

Interest in exploring renewable energy resources has increased globally, especially with recent intentions to maintain the global climate. Looking at the oceans as a vast sustainable clean energy resource to satisfy present high humankind energy demands has been strongly recommended. Several types of renewable energy resources exist in the oceans: waves, tides, thermohaline variations, currents & offshore winds. Choosing a suitable site to deploy tidal turbines is not a trivial process. Various constraints must be satisfied subject to basic criteria dependent upon local factors, technology limitation and economic consideration. This study justifies the nomination of the Strait of Messina as an exceptional tidal-current energy resource within the Mediterranean Sea basin. A detailed desk-based Environmental Impact Assessment study is performed using the interactive matrix approach. The University of Edinburgh “Tidal Flow Development (TFD)” numerical model is used to mimic the tidal environment of the Strait of Messina in different cases. Finally, a laboratory model is used to simulate the flow regime within the Strait of Messina using the Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) technique.