Inventors of next-gen energy storage for off-shore winds compete for the European Inventor Award 2024

The European Patent Office (EPO) on Wednesday (June 19) unveiled the 12 finalists for the 2024 European Inventor Award. 

One of the 12 finalists across diverse domains including healthcare, clean energy, and manufacturing includes engineers Tonio Sant, Daniel Buhagiar, and their team who have developed next-generation energy storage for offshore wind farms that could potentially make offshore wind power more reliable and predictable.

The FLASC hydro-pneumatic energy storage system, developed by the Malta University engineer's team, stores excess wind-generated electricity as hydraulic power to generate electrical power when needed.

Their system is said to have a potential to stabilize the energy supply from multiple offshore wind farms. Studies have shown that it allows 93 percent of all energy stored to be recovered, even in shallower waters and with a minimal seabed footprint.

Enabling excess energy storage opens up further potential for offshore wind – it is estimated that for every gigawatt of offshore wind energy produced, 3.5 metric tons (Mt) of CO2 coal emissions and 1.6 Mt of CO2 natural gas emissions are displaced every year.

Selected as finalists in the 'Research' category of the European Inventor Award 2024, the two engineers from Malta will be competing for the award against the German and French teams. The winners of which will be announced on July 9 in Malta. Voting for the award will remain open until the day of the ceremony.