The fourth edition of the "Green Salina Energy Days" event was recently held in Salina as part of the European program "Clean Energy for EU islands". The event, dedicated to the key aspects of the energy transition of small islands, was organized by ENEA (National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development) in collaboration with the Energy Department of the Sicilian Region, the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), the Municipalities of Leni, Malfa and Santa Marina Salina, the "Salina Isola Verde" Hoteliers Association, the Onlus environmentalist association "Marevivo" and ENEL
From 9 to 11 September various models of “Electric mobility on land and at sea” were presented. Scientists and energy operators also held the conference “Il support for the energy transition of small islands”, dedicated to the analysis of the results of ongoing projects to collect and evaluate proposals, ideas and critical issues in order to define the energy transition agenda of Salina, Pantelleria and Favignana, the three Sicilian islands selected as pioneer islands for clean energy of the 'EU.
The Director of the Palermo Section, Francesco Italiano, spoke on behalf of INGV and highlighted the possible role of geothermal energy as a further renewable source. In fact, this has the advantage of non-periodic production, a limiting factor for solar and wind power, and availability in most of the smaller Italian islands. While on the one hand research in recent years has developed knowledge on the availability and characteristics of geothermal systems, present on the national territory and in particular in the Aeolian archipelago and Pantelleria, on the other hand the exploitation of these resources has not followed due to the absence of shared development plans.
With his intervention, the Italian underlined that today the use of geothermal energy is aimed at the production of electricity but that in a new vision of eco-sustainable use, geothermal fluids can also be used for the recovery of mineral resources. All the islands are small emerged areas of large buildings that develop in an underwater environment and the possible geothermal use in these areas will have to consider offshore geothermal energy as a new target for industrial development.
Photo 1 - The Director of the Palermo Section of INGV, Francesco Italiano.
Photo 2 - Salt pan, valley. Credits: Francesco Cappello Enea