The increasing interest in marine renewable energy has led to the development of the first Italian lab in the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Naples harbour: the Marine Renewable Energy Lab (MaRELab), resulting from a collaboration between the Italian CNR and the University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli".
In this work, the design and the realization of MaRELab, including the offshore structures tested or to be installed in the near future, such as an intermediate-scale prototype of floating wind turbine and the OBREC device, are described.
The experimental set-up here presented emphasizes the key role of MaRELab in testing medium to full-scale innovative devices, considering that the meteo-climatic conditions of the Mediterranean region significantly differ from those experienced in oceans or northern seas. In this way, MaRELab represents an optimal solution to enable a risk-reduction strategy for stakeholders in the sector.
