Projects|Department of Ocean Technology,Policy, and Environment Graduate School,The University of Tokyo

Projects

Floating Type Ocean Current Turbine System

NEDO・IHI
Marine energy technology research and development / Marine energy system demonstration / Floating type ocean current turbine system

Japan has a huge ocean energy resource potential such as ocean currents, tidal currents and wave power in it s EEZ. The Kuroshio current is a large and stable ocean energy resource that does not exist in Europe and is a major feature of Japan’s EEZ. Ocean current energy is a stable energy resource compared to wave power or wind power . However , the current velocity is usually slow compared to the tidal current velocities which are utilized in Europe and North America. In addition, the water depth is more than 200m in the Kuroshio basin. In order to realize an ocean current tur bine system and achieve the power generation cost of 20 yen/kWh under these conditions, the University of Tokyo, IHI, and Mitsui GSSI proposed a floating type ocean current turbine which does not need extra support structures for standing on the seabed, and has the capability of easy installation and maintenance.Last year, NEDO and IHI conducted a 100kW prototype demonstration at sea.

An image sketch of floating current turbine system