The Center of Excellence in Ocean Energy Technology have developed what they believe is a technology to allow them to use the Gulf Stream currents that could conceivably cover all of Florida’s energy needs. The idea is to have underwater turbines placed right in the middle of the Gulf Stream current. The turbines are designed to be about 100 feet in diameter. These will be connected to a buoy that holds the electricity generating equipment. The Gulf Stream carries billions of gallons per minute, so the impact of these turbines would be minimal if negligible to the current itself, turbine that they claim could solve the commercial viability of tidal power.
Water energy technologies are the real sleeper in renewable energy, and I expect that wave, tidal, free-flow hydropower, and ocean thermal and ocean currents could easily meet 10 percent of the world’s energy needs. This will take patience and cooperation from the world’s governments who own and regulate their waterways, so these industries can accelerate, grow, and scale-up. To be fully successful, the project shall demonstrate the technology and produce prototype turbines which can be mass produced and sold with service support to a wide variety of customers worldwide. The prototype will launch in February 2008.
Via: Coet
