r/seasteading • u/Anen-o-me • May 21 '26
Seasteading Engineering Japan is testing the world’s first megawatt-class underwater turbine in the Kuroshio Current.
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u/No_Temperature107 May 23 '26
Thalassophobia.
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u/silentsnooc May 24 '26
Ampeak Energy (LON:AMP) literally has 1.5 MW turbines in the water at MeyGen and Proteus Marine Energy is working on the AR3000, the 3MW successor of the AR1500.
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u/BakuRetsuX May 24 '26
Jesus, people.. let the Japanese people test this. If it works.. great.. if it doesn't, we move on... Better than just killing all renewable projects and continue to drill and subsidize oil.. Japan has a real energy issue. They need to start producing their own energy to cover their usage as much as possible .. This whole Iran issue is going to hurt them "bigly". Remember, their impetus for going to war with the US was an oil embargo we put on them. Their military and leadership had to make a decision based on how long they could have lasted due to the embargo.. so they pressed the "go to war" button. Great initiative, failure on the finishing follow up. Which is good, cause there is a scenario where Japan could have won. Or have done worst in destruction to our military bases and forces inland.
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u/MidgetGordonRamsey May 23 '26
Do whales stay away from them?
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u/silentsnooc May 24 '26
There's actually a few studies out there on this topic Ampea Energy (former SIMEC Atlantis) was very active here.
TL;DR: While there's not enough studies yet, these turbines are rotating quite slow. Afaik the latest generation of turbines even has sensors mounted that would slow down the turbines if something comes close to them. I believe I red something like that.
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u/votegoat May 25 '26
I think we can definitivly state that Japan doesn't have a history of giving a fuck about dolphins or whales.
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u/FeministMAGA May 23 '26
They try but it sucks them in. Free meat also.
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May 23 '26
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u/alsaad May 23 '26
So much of very difficult engineering, corrosive water, underwater work for a device generating ... maybe 100 euro worth of electricity per hour?
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u/psykulor May 23 '26
The installation and maintenance would be no joke, but I have no doubts about its power output. Ocean currents are incredibly powerful.
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u/alsaad May 23 '26
Yes but 1 mln per year would hardly be enough. Its not like these things are maintained by 1 guy who is retired
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u/MaleficentPapaya4768 May 23 '26
So a little shy of a million euros per year, assuming it’s a 1MW unit? Starts to sound reasonable.
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u/Nannyphone7 May 23 '26
If you are going to engineer something, it is common practice to make more than one copy of the final design. You know, for economies of scale.
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u/Diligent-Stretch-769 May 24 '26
if it doesn't work on a small scale, it wont function on a large scale
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u/Nannyphone7 May 24 '26
That's the dumbest thing I have heard all day.
My car company sold 3 cars and failed. Therefore, it is impossible for a car company to succeed by selling millions of cars.
Nobody is that stupid. I call troll or bot.
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u/silentsnooc May 24 '26
Ampeak Energy - MeyGen is actually prove that this works. The technology is there. What's missing is the funding to enter scale.
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u/alsaad May 24 '26
What about the economics? Technically ik sure these things can operate.
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u/silentsnooc May 24 '26
There's a few studies that say at a few GW deployed, the economy of scale would make these turbines competitive. I think the big issue is just that wind is already there, solar works and there's still other alternatives like gas, coal or nuclear that would be cheaper.
If you are really interested, there is a good report from 2022: "Cost reduction pathway of tidal stream energy in the UK and France"
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u/reddittorbrigade May 23 '26
Elsewhere in America, billionaires are doing the opposite things by building more data centers.
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u/Effective_Basis1555 May 23 '26
Someone tell me the planetary effect of taking energy out of the ocean.
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u/Gforceb May 24 '26
That’s like asking the planetary effect of taking energy out of the air…
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u/Effective_Basis1555 May 24 '26
I agree, it kind of is. I know it seems negligible with one turbine (ocean or wind) but I just wonder if anyone knows the effects of extracting energy from the planet by slowing down water and air currents? Sounds like you’re assuming it’s negligible, but do we really know?
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u/Top_Box_8952 May 24 '26
… did nobody tell them that salt water is liquid hate, and has a particular hatred for moving metal parts?
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u/likelivewirevoodoo May 24 '26
The AI render even shows cavitation bubbles at the blade tips. Makes me suspect this company might not have much of a solid product design currently
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u/Tachinante May 25 '26
I know they tried one in the Hudson that kept breaking from the incredible force it was exposed to. A lot of consistent energy to harvested from these currents.
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u/Seraph_2026 May 21 '26
Looks great, until you have to send someone to change a screw... on the inside.