Japan Drops a Gargantuan Turbine into the Ocean to Harness ‘Limitless Energy’

Japan relies heavily on fossil fuels for its energy needs. Japan’s public attitude towards nuclear power is deteriorating after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear catastrophe. Japan is now motivated to make use of its technological capabilities to harness renewable energy sources.

The mountainous Japanese archipelago is too small to support large forests of wind turbines and fields of solar panels. Because the location is far from other countries, it’s harder to offset fluctuations in renewables via energy trade.

The nation has vast stretches of coastline water. The ocean swirls to the east under the power of the North Pacific Gyre.

The Kuroshio current is a strong flow that flows from Japan to the place where the gyre meets Japan.

IHI estimates that the country could generate approximately 205 gigawatts of electricity if it could harness the energy in the current. This amount is comparable to the country’s current power generation.

The ocean’s turbulent movements have enormous potential, which is why it can be so difficult to use as a source of power. The surface is where the fastest flowing waters are, and also where typhoons can easily wipe out power stations.

Kairyu is designed to hover approximately 50m below the waves. The drag it creates provides the turbines with the torque they need. The device is stable because each blade rotates in an opposite direction.

Kairyu can produce 100 kilowatts in a flow rate of between two and four knots (around one-two meters per second).

It might seem small sparks when compared to an offshore wind turbine’s 3600 watts. Kairyu has shown great resilience to nature and could soon be able to produce a respectable 2 megawatts with its giant sibling, the 20-meter-long turbines.

If everything goes according to plan, there might be a farm of power generators that feed electricity into the grid by the end of next decade. It remains to be seen if Kairyu can scale up.

Despite the huge interest in this under-utilized source of renewable energy, most attempts to harness the power of the ocean’s currents, tides and waves often fail. To see these projects through, it is necessary to overcome many obstacles, including high engineering costs, environmental limitations, close proximity to the grid, and proximity to coastal areas.

IHI Corp. has the potential to overcome these obstacles and reap kaiju-sized rewards. With ocean power potentially providing anywhere between 40 to 70% of Japan’s energy requirements,

The ocean’s immense energy supply can be harnessed with advances in materials science and better understanding.