Three years ago, a prototype of a Kobold turbine mounted on a vertical shaft, patented by Elio Matacena, president of “Ponte di Archimede” SpA Company, was put in the Messina Straits.
The construction demonstrated how marine currents can be bridled producing electric energy. Today, an important UNIDO project “exports” this technological Italian primacy to the People’s Republic of China, to Indonesia and to the Philippines, intending to supply the islands’ inhabitants with electricity.
And there’s more: symmetrically at the same time, at the “Horcynus Orca” Park in Messina, an International Center of Excellence for the study of marine energy, financed by UNIDO, will be established.
This center will put together the very best Italian and international scientists and academics in a field which is of extreme importance. Important because currently there is a lack of energy resources. Today in Messina, during the conference an announcement will be made regarding the use of marine currents for electricity production. A Chinese, Indonesian and Philippines delegation, together with UNIDO executives will participating.
Among the institutions participating, on the Asian side, there are the Chinese Academy of Science, the Zhongshan University of Guangzhou, the Indonesian Ministry for Research and Technology, the Philippines Department for Energy; on the Italian side, the Polytechnic of Milan.
Ponte di Archimede SpA will be the catalyst of the initiative. In fact will have a role in enlarging the number of Italian universities involved in the Center. The Center will propose itself as leader in this field, becoming a point of reference at an international level.
Until now there have been only single national research activities involved in innovation and development”.
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