Ocean Grazer's system of tanks, pumps and turbines can operate for 20 years, storing renewable energy and releasing it when needed to provide electricity.
The main components in the Ocean Battery system include the soft balloon (top left), the concrete tank bottom left) and the mechanical complex (yellow in the middle) containing the pump and turbine.
Although very useful, renewable energy sources still need storage systems to back up when there is no sunlight or when the wind is calm. Ocean Battery is a new energy storage system that operates like a hydroelectric dam on the seabed.
Developed by Dutch startup Ocean Grazer, Ocean Battery is designed to be installed on the seabed near offshore renewable energy generators such as wind turbines, floating solar farms, tidal power and solar power. amount of waves. The system includes 3 parts that operate on the same principle as a hydroelectric dam.
Buried at the bottom of the sea is a concrete tank with a capacity of 20 million liters of fresh water, stored at low pressure. A system of pumps and turbines connects this reservoir to a soft bubble located on the seabed. Excess electricity from renewable energy sources can be used to pump water from the reservoir into the bubble. When electricity is needed, under the pressure of the sea water above, the bubbles release and force the water back into the reservoir, turning the turbine to produce electricity and supply it to the grid.
Ocean Grazer's research team said the system's efficiency is up to 70 - 80%, and can operate in unlimited cycles for more than 20 years. The scale of the system is also relatively large. Each concrete reservoir has a capacity of 10 MWh, so building more reservoirs could help increase total capacity. Engineers can also add pumps and turbines to increase generating capacity.
The Ocean Battery's design is unique, but it's not the only undersea battery system being developed. German company Subhydro also came up with the idea of pumping seawater from tanks located on the seabed, then pouring the water back in to turn turbines when electricity is needed. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US also describes a similar design using hollow concrete spheres.
According to VnExpress