Two Maltese engineers have made it to the final of a competition looking for the most innovative inventions in Europe.
Tonio Sant and Danial Buhagiar have created a system to improve the storage and distribution of energy from offshore windfarms.
The Maltese team are one of three contestants, including a team from Germany and one from France, that are in the running to win in the 'Research' category of the European Inventor Award.
It will be held for the first time in Malta and the winners will be announced on July 9.
Sant and Buhagiar's invention, FLASC, is a mechanical offshore energy storage system that helps solve the problem of irregular and variable renewable energy supply.
Their invention uses the ocean as a heat sink, allowing them to simplify the mechanics and increase the efficiency of the storage and release of energy.
Dr Sant and Dr Buhagiar with their invention. Photo: EPOThe Maltese team was selected from 550 candidates.
The system was developed during Buhagiar’s PhD at the University of Malta under the supervision of Professor Tonio Sant of the Mechanical Engineering Department.
It began as an academic challenge but grew when the University's Knowledge Transfer Office (KTO) suggested the idea was good enough to be patented.
“The sea is always on our mind as a resource since we are a small island. So the idea was simple: What if we could have an energy storage system that is co-located within the offshore wind farm using the same footprint?” said Buhagiar.
The Maltese team was selected from 550 candidates.
Anyone interested can watch the ceremony from the live stream and voting for the Popular Prize, awarded by the public, is open.
The European Inventor Awards celebrate Europe’s top talent. Launched by the EPO (European Patent Office) in 2006, they have awarded 95 inventors of more than 30 nationalities, including 6 Nobel Prize winners.