Japan Looks Into At-Sea Power Generation

FUKUOKA, JP -- Scientists in Japan are exploring the use of huge cleantech generators that would float at sea as a power source for the country, Japan's leading daily newspaper reported.

The at-sea generators, dubbed eco-rigs, would be environmentally friendly, giant power plants that are a home to photovoltaic generators and turbines -- and could generate as much power as a nuclear facility, said the Yomiuri Shimbun quoting scientists at Kyushu University.

The eco-rigs, which would be about 2 kilometers by 800 meters (1.2 miles by just under a half mile) and each would generate about 300 megawatts of electricity. The cost-to-power generation rate for a rig is estimated at 70,000 yen to 140,000 yen (about $656 to $1312 in U.S. dollars) per kilowatt compared with about 200,000 yen (about $1873 U.S.) per kilowatt for constructing a nuclear power plant.

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Comments

[mamacat]

I was reading an article on another web site about Atlantis Resources Corp. It appears that Morgan Stanley has become a very large investor in the Singapore based company, as they think that Atlantis is poised to be the leader in power generation from tidal.

While the GOP is concentrating on their mantras of "drill, drill, drill," and "bomb, bomb, bomb Iran," and blocking alternative energy development, other parts of the planet are making signifigant technological advances in alternative energy.

[jane47]

Japan may also wish to investigate as to why we are not afforded the privilege of FREE ENERGY

I have included the website of a Utube video as shown on Sky news Australia. The inventors on this website are not the only people who have managed to realise Nikola Tesla's invention. If you are interested in the zero point energy I reccommend Thomas Reardon USA (often maligned in the internet- however in my opinion he has the intregrity of Paul Skinner as I have observed in the BBC interviews) to enlighten the relaity of this reality.

http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2008/02/26/free-energy-home-generator-zero-point-energy-off-the-grid/

http://www.free-energy-info.co.uk/

Australian race car driver, Peter Brock, who died from a freak accident has developed a polarisor which enables a huge reduction in G force on vehicles cornering and stopping... information GMH has secured...

http://forums.thescene.com.au/forums/t/33313.aspx

I have also sent this information to Al Fayed and Mahindra Motors in India, Rio Tinto Chairman Paul Skinner and Prince Charles and if I could find Carlos Ghosn (Nissan Motors ) I would also send this to him

I am only hopeful that someone will be able to investigate why and how we are not able to be afforded this amazing energy source.

Warm regards and many thanks
Jane

[imusintheevening]

Unfortunately, the laws of thermodynamics are working against your hopes.

[twgbonehead]

This is one of those articles that starts by raising your hopes, and ends up making you scream in anguish.

Wave (not tidal!) power can be extracted from the ocean with much simpler and cheaper equipment than solar cells. The investment in solar cells would be much better placed on rooftops, near the point-of-consumption (and further from the corrosive sea air and spray).

And using LED's to spur algae growth (powered by the sun?) That's just brain-damaged. If you want to help restore fish populations a completely separate operation that promoted healthy algae growth directly from sunlight (combined with a hatchery, perhaps?) would be a smarter idea.

This sounds to me like a "Swiss-army-knife" project, intended to get PR and funding, without any real intelligence behind it.

[cdembrey]

Here in the US the tree huggers will fight this, just like they fight water desalination projects. The reason they give is that it will change the eco-system.

[montestruc]

Yup.

Suggestion - Allow offshore oil drilling *if* the firm first builds an offshore wind/wave or whatever plant that produces some X amount of energy per year per square kilometer of mineral rights they want to have (say X is 1-5% per year of the estimated total energy in the minerals drilled for). After they build the plant and as long as they keep it in good working order, and find a way to deliver that power to market, then they can drill for oil or natural gas and produce it.

Then they can keep the green power plant and sell it or whatever.

[JScott]

You can have desal but just be sure first that land use is planned and regulated to maintain wildeness and ag lands otherwise it would ALL BE URBAN SPRAWL.

[DMSmith]

When I was living in Hawaii I kept thinking about the power of and in the oceans. We're they folks who got to the moon there's no reason we can't find a good way to harness that power. In the meantime we can do whatever we can. I use a diesel car with bio-diesel fuel. We can all do something.

[TXfemmom]

I have read of various proposals to harness tidal and ocean power to generate. After all, the they could generate currents going in and then back out and the power would be continuous.

We learned to build power plants, nuclear power plants and other things, it can be done and the world must have the will to see it done.

[twgbonehead]

TX, there's actually much more energy stored in waves than in the tides. Watch the tide come in at the beach; while the actual water level rises and falls very slowly, the incremental level goes up and down many times that distance. Also, being more sudden (higher delta-energy/unit of time) the energy is more easily collected (no need for channels, dams, or other containment structures).

Tidal power comes from the stored energy in the earth's rotation (which is dissipated due to the gravitational interaction with the moon and sun).

Wave power comes primarily from wind, which is solar in nature (although the tides contribute somewhat). In that sense, wave power is wind power, using the ocean as a collector (instead of fan blades).

Not to totally dismiss tidal power; the total energy dissipated due to the earth's rotation is about a million megawatts (although not all of this goes into the tides, a decent proportion does).

[mamacat]

Aren't tides caused by the gravitational forces of the moon and the sun acting upon the Earth?

[mamacat]

Innovative thinking like this is very encouraging. There are obviously many obstacles to doing something like this, but the goal is a worthy one. If we do nothing we are likely to go extinct.

[twgbonehead]

Amateur hype. Se my other comment if it ever posts.

[twgbonehead]

This is one of those articles that you start reading with hope, and finish up with despair and angst.

Offshore platforms are a GREAT way to use the tremendous power in wave energy (which is not the same thing as tidal energy!), and there's a LOT out there.

Offshore platforms are a lousy place for solar cells; they'd be better off putting those same cells on onshore rooftops. Closer to point-of-use, more stable in inclement weather, and not subject to constant corrosive salt spray.

Using LED's to provide light for algae growth? Can I get some of those drugs, please?

They'd be much better off making a comparable platform to JUST capture wave energy. If you want to promote fish stocks, launch a SEPARATE operation to promote healthy algae growth, and combine it with a "hatch-and-release" fish nursery program.

How come all the press and funding goes to the total crackpots when it comes to alternative energy?

[Smirk]

Sounds interesting. Hope it works.

[Egalitare]

Low head hydro power generation is the least discussed of the alternative/renewable energy options out there.

For the Japanese, this makes lots of sense. But it also makes a lot of sense for us. Harnessing water moved by tidal action and currents is about as reliable and constant a clean energy source as one can get.

Are there serious technical hurdles to overcome? Sure, but all the more reason to fund some very long term research in the field, the bulk of which should be shouldered by our research universities.