Japan’s New Turbine Claims to Make Limitless Energy from the Ocean
Japan wants to make the most of hydropower and is prepared
to go on the world's strongest ocean current in order to do it. That is exactly
what the new Kairyu turbine, a genuine behemoth capable of converting ocean
currents into a seemingly unlimited supply of power, can do.
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| Image Credit: Propakistani.pk |
IHI Corporation, a subsidiary of Japan's Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries, has been working on this technology for more than ten years. In 2017, the business teamed up with the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) to put their innovations to the test.
The corporation ultimately completed a three-and-a-half-year
field test in the waters off Japan's southwestern coast in February 2022,
marking a huge milestone. Kairyu, which means "ocean stream," is the
name of the 330-ton prototype. It consists of a 20-meter-long fuselage flanked
by identical cylinders with a power generation system connected to an
11-meter-long turbine blade.
How Does It Work?
The machine can automatically identify the most optimal
place to generate electricity through the water current after it is anchored to
the ocean floor by an anchor line and power cables. It can float 50 metres
beneath the water's surface. The drag caused as it floats towards the surface
generates the torque required by the turbines.
To keep the turbine steady, the blades can also rotate in
the opposite direction.
IHI believes that if the energy contained inside seas can be
adequately exploited, it may create up to 205 gigawatts of power, nearly the
same amount as the country presently generates from other sources.
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