What to do with a stationary wind turbine on a windless day?
For some experts and entrepreneurs, the answer lies in submarine movements.
An innovative system proposes that a field of wind turbines at sea pumps water into equipment which would thus use the natural pressure of the seabed to run electricity generators and which would store the energy until we need it.
“We found a solution that we call the ocean battery,” says Frits Bliek, boss of Dutch start-up Ocean Grazer, demonstrating the system at the big tech show (CES) in Las Vegas.
As calls multiply to ditch energy sources that contribute to climate change, such as coal, finding ways to store green energy is becoming crucial, experts say, for it to meet needs.
The first results are coming in, a fantastic step for the validation of the Ocean Battery.
Renewable energy is stored as potential energy in water, using the pressure of the oceans.
We are one step closer to ecofriendly energy storage on a large offshore scale.
pic.twitter.com/iyQqB96ts2
- Ocean Grazer (@OceanGrazer) June 23, 2021
A "pump-storage" system
This is because nature does not always produce wind or sunshine during periods when the demand for electricity is the highest. Frits Bliek's “ocean battery” works with huge pockets resting on the seabed filled with seawater by a wind turbine. When electricity is needed, the pressure exerted by the ocean on these pockets allows water to pass through the system, which includes turbines, thereby generating power.
One of the fundamental aspects to consider in the production of electricity is cost.
However, a storage system involving any battery whatsoever proves not only expensive but also presents risks of leakage and contamination of the ocean environment.
Devices using hydraulic pressure are already used in hydroelectric dams that reinject water, pumped from basins or rivers, into their reservoir when the demand for electricity drops.
This principle, called "pumping-storage", thus makes it possible to store resources intended to supply the turbines of the dam.
80% efficiency
The US Department of Energy locates the concept's origin in Italy and Switzerland in the 1890s. Installations of this type now exist all over the world. Regarding the underwater version of this type of storage, Ocean Grazer is not alone on the market. FLASC, a company affiliated with the University of Malta, has designed a system that uses electricity produced from renewable energy to pump water into a chamber containing pressurized air, which can then spin a hydraulic turbine to in turn generate electricity.
Another project, called Stensea, uses cavernous concrete spheres for its mechanism, tested in a lake in Germany in 2016. According to the boss of Ocean Grazer, underwater structures use the pressure of the seabed to their advantage. The ocean - a free resource to power a system he believes is 80% efficient at storing energy. Frits Bliek sees storage structures as a key issue in renewable energies, the use of which is booming in global energy consumption with falling production costs.
In the United States, for example, these carbon-free energy sources have recorded the fastest growth in the energy mix, increasing by 42% between 2010 and 2020, according to the NGO Center for Climate and Energy Solutions.
However, the establishment of structures such as the “ocean battery” on a scale sufficient for its integration into an electricity network will not take place for several years.
Frits Bliek plans to install its system at sea for the first time by 2025, after having first deployed it in a lake in the north of the Netherlands in 2023.
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