Solaqua team at Rinella wave tank where the latest wave-tank tests were performed.

Professor Luciano Mule' Stagno, Director of the Institute for Sustainable Energy, has recently filed a patent entitled "Floating Offshore Structure".

This patent is part of the Solaqua project which aims to develop viable offshore PV farms by installing solar panels in open water. These offshore floating PV farms could be as cost-effective and reliable as those on land—an idea that has never progressed beyond the theoretical stage anywhere in the world.

"The Solaqua project aims to prove that PV Systems can survive, and do so at a comparable cost to land-based PV farms. This project, which started approximately ten years ago, is now embarking on its third phase," stated Professor Mule' Stagno.

"During the first phase modelling was performed and various designs were tested at sea. In Phase 2 the focus was on design and further modelling and wave tank testing. The design developed has performed very well and negotiations are now ongoing to finance a full-scale prototype deployment off Malta's coast", he said.

This is the second patent filed this year by the Solar Research Group of the Institute for Sustainable Energy.