Two New Renewable Vitality Applied sciences That Simply May Work

Join CleanTechnica’s Weekly Substack for Zach and Scott’s in-depth analyses and excessive degree summaries, join our each day publication, and/or observe us on Google Information!

Persevering with CleanTechnica’s by no means ending quest to maintain readers knowledgeable of latest developments on the planet of renewable vitality, we carry you phrase of two new developments that clattered forth from the teletype machines in our state-of-the-art newsroom within the third sub-basement just under the manager gymnasium. The primary information flash got here from Fraunhofer, the extremely revered German expertise analysis group. The opposite is the O-Wind Sphere from O-Improvements that guarantees free electrical energy from prevailing breezes.

Undersea Storage For Renewable Vitality

Pumped hydro vitality storage has been round for many years. It’s a lot like hydroelectric energy besides as an alternative of simply harvesting the vitality in flowing water, it recaptures that water, pumps it again uphill, and reuses that to generate extra electrical energy later. Now, which will sound to some like a perpetual movement machine, which everyone knows is a scientific impossibility. Doesn’t it take extra vitality to pump the water again uphill than is created when it flows downhill?

The reply is, in fact it does. The key sauce that makes the method economically possible is that the worth of electrical energy varies in response to availability and demand. At some occasions of the day, electrical energy prices extra as a result of demand is excessive. At different occasions, it prices much less as a result of demand is low. When you can promote the electrical energy from a pumped hydro facility when the worth is excessive, you’ll be able to wait till the worth is low to pump it again uphill. If correctly managed, it’s doable to create income even when the the vitality equation is out of stability.

Pumped hydro has a lot of issues, nonetheless. One, it takes up a number of room. Two, it can take years to assemble a brand new pumped hydro facility. Three, new pumped hydro installations could be costly. Fraunhofer has what it thinks is a greater concept. Construct a bunch of enormous concrete spheres and place them on the ground of the ocean at a depth of about 2000 toes. Based on NOAA, “The strain will increase about one environment for each 10 meters of water depth. At a depth of 5,000 meters the strain might be roughly 500 atmospheres or 500 occasions larger than the strain at sea degree.”

Now, pricey reader, work with me right here. It’s well-known that my mind turns to mush when confronted by mathematical challenges. 2000 toes is about 600 meters. 600 divided by ten is 60, so at that depth, the strain of the water exterior the sphere might be 60 occasions larger than it’s at sea degree. Open a portal to let the ocean rush in, and it’ll have greater than sufficient power to spin a turbine to generate electrical energy.

The enterprise case for doing this is similar as it’s for pumped hydro. Make electrical energy when the worth is excessive, pump the water again into the ocean when the worth is low. Voila! Fraunhofer estimates the price of its system at $177 (€158) per kWh. By comparability, the Nationwide Renewable Vitality Laboratory in 2023 estimated the price of battery electrical storage at between $245 and $405 per kWh.

Fraunhofer calls its concept StEnSea — Saved Vitality within the Sea — and it has been creating the expertise since 2011. Now a pilot venture that may drop a ball 30 toes (9 m) in diameter into the ocean off of Lengthy Seaside California is ready to start by the top of 2026. It’s anticipated to generate 0.5 MW of energy and have a capability of 0.4 MWh — sufficient to energy a typical US house for about 2 weeks. The west coast of the USA was chosen as a result of the ocean ground drops off rapidly. On the east coast, the continental shelf extends far to the east. One of many price issues for StEnSea is how a lot electrical cable is required to attach the sphere to the shore.

Assuming the pilot venture is profitable, the subsequent aim is to check bigger spheres 100 toes (30 m) in diameter. Fraunhofer calculates that StEnSea has a theoretical storage potential of 817,000 GWh, which might be sufficient to energy 75 million houses in Germany, France, and the UK for a couple of 12 months. Based on New Atlas, the US Division of Vitality has invested $4 million within the StEnSea venture. Readers are free to attract their very own conclusions about whether or not that monetary help will proceed now that the fossil gasoline crowd owns two of the three branches of the US authorities.

The potential downsides to this expertise embrace the necessity to present safety for the undersea cables connecting the system to the mainland. This isn’t theoretical, because the NordStream pipeline explosion makes clear. Not solely that, Russia appears to have developed a fleet of ships that by some means all the time handle to pull their anchors within the rapid neighborhood of undersea cables.

O-Wind Sphere Higher Than Photo voltaic Panels?

Just like the Fraunhofer StEnSea venture, the O-Wind Sphere has been in improvement by O-Innovationss for a lot of years. On its web site, the corporate says, “As the worldwide inhabitants grows, our cities additionally enhance in peak and density, receiving much less daylight and experiencing extra wind at floor degree. To generate the required vitality for our cities regionally, we should harness this robust and chaotic wind. The O-Wind is the primary actually omni-directional wind turbine particularly designed to deal with this problem, making it excellent for city use.”

The O-Wind gained the Dyson Award in 2018, prompting James Dyson to say, “The O-Wind Turbine takes the large problem of manufacturing renewable vitality and utilizing geometry it could harness vitality in locations the place we’ve scarcely been wanting — cities. It’s an ingenious idea,” DesignBoom studies “The O-Wind Turbine from O-Improvements depends on Bernoulli’s precept to make its mechanism work. Vents have massive entrances, however smaller exits, which create a special strain inside when the wind enters, inflicting the turbine to maneuver. The vents cloak the sphere’s construction to make the turbine receptive to all instructions.”

Small wind generators might have a spot within the vitality technology sector sooner or later. Whether or not the O-Wind is a viable idea on a business scale stays to be seen.

And The Winner Is …

There are valuable few technical particulars accessible concerning the O-Wind, which suggests it could be an fascinating idea however won’t carry copious quantities of renewable vitality to the folks of the world anytime quickly. The StEnSea venture, however, is backed by actual scientists doing issues actual scientists do. Is it prone to change BESS? No, it gained’t play in Oklahoma Metropolis or Memphis, that are removed from any deep oceans, however it’s a potential software to assist transfer the renewable vitality revolution ahead in locations the place politicians will not be shills for fossil gasoline pursuits.

Over watercress sandwiches (with the crusts reduce off, naturally), the gang at CleanTechnica thought the Fraunhofer StEnSea expertise will discover a area of interest within the vitality storage world within the close to future. The O-Wind? Not a lot. Verify again with us in 2030 for a full report!