Science Alert June 10, 2022
To tap into the source of power beneath the waves an industry in Japan has constructed a 330-ton prototype of a device called Kairyu whose structure consists of a 20 meter (66 foot) long fuselage flanked by a pair of similar-sized cylinders, each housing a power generation system attached to an 11-meter-long turbine blade. When tethered to the ocean floor by an anchor line and power cables, the device can orient itself to find the most efficient position to generate power from the push of a deep-water current, and channel it into a grid. Kairyu was designed to hover roughly 50 meters below the waves – as it floats towards the surface, the drag created provides the necessary torque on the turbines. Each of the blades rotates in an opposing direction as well, keeping the device relatively stable. In a flow of two to four knots (around one to two meters per second), Kairyu was found to be capable of churning out a total of 100 kilowatts of power. If the energy present in the current could be harnessed, it could feasibly generate around 205 gigawatts of electricity, the same ballpark as the country’s current power generation. If all goes as planed, power generators may be feeding electricity into the grid some time next decade…read more.
Credit: IHI Corp./NEDO