Offshore renewable energies: exploring floating modular energy islands—materials, construction technologies, and life cycle assessment
Abstract Floating modular energy islands (FMEIs) are modular, interconnected floating structures designed to collectively produce, store, convert, and transport renewable energy. This review aims to establish a foundation for developing innovative approaches to sustainably harness multi-energy sources in offshore environments. It leverages existing technological expertise while exploring new solutions to address specific challenges associated with FMEIs. The review initially presents existing technologies for floating energy structures and assesses their applicability to FMEI. The structural materials that could be utilised for the construction of a floating energy island are subsequently reviewed. Next, the offshore construction technologies suitable for FMEI are reviewed. Finally, studies on the life cycle assessment of hybrid energy systems are examined, highlighting the environmental advantages of integrating multiple renewable energy sources, thereby underscoring the potential of FMEIs.
Authors
- Philip Cardiff (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4824-427X)
- Ivan Lukačević (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0804-6981)
- Eleni Chatzi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6870-240X)
- Stefano Lenci (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3154-7896)
- Abdollah Malekjafarian (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1358-1943)
- Michaela Gkantou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2494-405X)
- Ruben Paul Borg (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5298-4609)
- Jeroen van Beeck (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0245-9889)
- Seevani Bali (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6967-9838)
- Evangelos Efthymiou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7844-0343)
- Junlin Heng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2562-611X)
- Vikram Pakrashi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8318-3521)
- Giulio Ferri (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9127-8547)
- Tarik Uzunović (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7979-7395)
- Charalampos Baniotopoulos (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4740-8479)
- Niccolò Bruschi
- Giuseppe Rega (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7444-0338)
- Zhiyu Jiang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8778-0999)
- Davor Skejić (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1755-9738)
- Angela Meyer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4120-3827)
- Viorel Ungureanu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5826-9518)
- Adnan Osmanović (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8861-467X)
- Lance Manuel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0602-3014)
- Helena Gervásio (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6848-8263)
- Amiya Pandit (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1825-2575)
- Ivan Čudina (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-3159-1855)
- Enzo Marino (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7441-1994)
- Amrit Shankar Verma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1021-0613)
- Florea Dinu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7192-6973)
- Mariela Méndez-Morales
- Luana Tesch
Institutions
- University College Dublin (IE)
- University of Sarajevo (BA)
- Marche Polytechnic University (IT)
- Bern University of Applied Sciences (CH)
- Von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics (BE)
- University of Zagreb (HR)
- University of Malta (MT)
- University of Agder (NO)
- Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (GR)
- Polytechnic University of Timişoara (RO)
- ETH Zurich (CH)
- University of Florence (IT)
- Romanian Academy (RO)
- Liverpool John Moores University (GB)
- University of Coimbra (PT)
- University of Maine (US)
- University of Birmingham (GB)
- Sapienza University of Rome (IT)
- The University of Texas at Austin (US)
- Delft University of Technology (NL)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy
- Published
- 2025-06-11
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s40722-025-00403-y
- Citations
- 7
- Primary Topic
- Marine and Offshore Engineering Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 8.02
Funders
- Ministarstvo Civilnih Poslova Bosne i Hercegovine