Japan tests electricity generation using ocean currents

According to NHK television channel, Japan has, for the first time, successfully tested a new equipment system to produce electricity using ocean currents.

The TV news reported that the test was conducted from August 14 in the Kagoshima Island area in the southwest of the country, where the Kuroshio warm ocean current flows strongly.

The Kuroshio Current or Japan Current is an ocean current in the Western Pacific Ocean off the east coast of Taiwan that flows northeastward across Japan, where it joins the easterly flow of the North Pacific Current.

The device was submerged to a depth of 20 to 50m, with a maximum electrical output of 30kW.

The Kuroshio Current is similar to the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic Ocean, which transports warm tropical waters northward toward the poles. The Kuroshio Current is sometimes called the "black current" - a reference to the word kuroshio meaning black and the deep blue color of the waters there.

The system was jointly developed by IHI Corporation and the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). The system consists of three metal cylinders, each nearly 20 meters long. Two cylinders are equipped with generators on both sides with 11-meter diameter propellers.

During testing, the device was submerged to depths of 20 to 50m, with a maximum electrical output of 30kW.

According to the developers, this is the world's first successful test of a power generation system using underground ocean currents.

According to Khoahoc.tv