Japan Drops a Gargantuan Turbine into the Ocean to Harness ‘Limitless Energy’
There is a source of energy deep beneath the waves that is unlike any other. Japanese engineers created a leviathan to tap into this source of power. It can withstand the strongest ocean currents and transform it into an almost limitless supply.
Ishikawajima Harima Heavy Industries – also known as IHI Corporation – has been experimenting with technology for more than a decade. In 2017, they partnered with New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization NEDO to put their designs to the ultimate test.
The project reached a significant milestone in February when it completed a three-and-a half-year field test off Japan’s southwest coast.
Kairyu is the 330-ton prototype, which roughly translates to ‘ocean current’.
It consists of a fuselage 20 meters (66 feet) in length, flanked by two cylinders of similar size. Each cylinder houses a power generation system and attached to an 11-meter-long turbine blade.
The device can be tethered by anchor lines and power cables to the ocean floor to determine the best position to generate power from deep-water currents and channel it into a grid.
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