Underwater Currents Generate Energy in Japan

Experts plan to continue testing of underwater plants.

In Japan, the world’s first tested the installation for the production of electricity through the undercurrents of the ocean. It is reported by the broadcaster NHK.

Power plant consists of three located at a depth of 20-50 meters of a cylinder with a length of 20 meters each. Inside two of them placed the generators with blades with a diameter of 11 meters each, the third is designed to ensure a stable position of the system. Total installed power is estimated at 100 kilowatts, during the experiments, the maximum rate did not exceed 30 kilowatts.

The unit is placed in the path of the Kuroshio current (the Pacific counterpart of the Gulf stream). Equipment for power plant produced the company IHI and development Organization new energy and industrial technologies. The experiment, which lasted five days in the area South-West of the Japanese island Kuchinoshima (Kagoshima Prefecture), considered a success.

Experts plan to continue testing of underwater plants. Full commissioning is scheduled for 2020.