Harvesting the Oceans | Green Energy News

September 21, 2003 – Vol.8 No.26

HARVESTING THE OCEANS.

While many flock to the ocean for the view, the sun, the salt air, and to admire its power, efforts to tap the ocean’s energy are relatively small. Devices installed and operating that can capture the energy of rolling waves, of tidal flow, and of ocean currents are few and far between.

Yet there seems to some momentum growing for these technologies. Hammerfest Stroem has announced that its prototype tidal stream generator is now operating on the bottom of the Kvalsund channel leading to the city of Hammerfest, Norway. With enough power for thirty homes, the underwater turbine costs about 80 million crowns ($11 million) to build and install. Expensive, but most prototypes are.

The company’s website, though, with photographs and renderings, demonstrates the difficulties of building and installing an ocean energy device affixed to the bottom of a body of water.

A less permanent device may be a better solution.

The ever- flowing ocean currents such as the Atlantic’s Gulf Stream seem the most tantalizing to tap for endless, emission-free energy. Though not the first to envision the capture of the energy of ocean currents, John H. Robson has put forth a detailed paper on what an ocean current generator might look like and operate.

Like a submarine with its buoyancy equalized to float at prescribed depths, the Gulf Stream Turbine would remain anchored in place to pull against the current at 90 and 300 feet below the surface. The slowly rotating turbine blades, a fraction of the size of those of wind turbines, would be out of sight and far below the hulls of ships. (But submariners and fishermen beware!)

The Gulf Stream Turbines could be grouped in clusters and connected to shore by transmission cable where economically feasible.

The turbines would be made of carbon composites for corrosion resistance and weight reduction. (Composites made from crude oil, by the way, are on the list of better-uses-for-oil-than-burning-it.)

Additionally to the inventor’s thoughts, turbines could be anchored far from shore in deep ocean operations for energy harvesting ships to visit or loiter while connected to a turbine network. Those energy collecting ships could use the electricity generated by the turbines to electrolyze water into hydrogen, charge batteries, compress air, or deoxidize metals for use in metal/air fuel cell generators. The ships or barges would return to port when fully loaded to sell the stored energy to the grid or as fuel for vehicles.

Mr. Robson is willing to distribute his paper on the Gulf Stream Turbine. Contact him at robson1167(at)aol.com/ . Visit Hammerfest Stroem at http://www.e-tidevannsenergi.com/