Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries has been developing the technology for more than a decadeand cooperates with
The turbine prototype was named Kairyu, which translates tolike an ocean current. Its fuselage is 20m and is surrounded by a pair of equally sized cylinders, each housing a power generation system attached to an 11m turbine blade.
The device is tied to the bottom with an anchor rope andpower cables, it can orient itself to find the most efficient position to generate power from the push of the deep current and channel it into the grid.
Kairyu was designed to beabout 50 m underwater. When it floats to the surface, resistance is created, it provides the necessary torque on the turbines. Each of the blades rotates to keep the device relatively stable.
At speeds of two to four knots (about 1-2 m/s), the Kairyu is capable of generating a total of 100 kilowatts of power.
100 kilowatts is not much, but they plan to scale up the technology and create a device with 20-meter turbines to generate more than 2 megawatts.
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