Description du projet
Faire voler un cerf-volant sous l’eau pour alimenter en électricité les îles d’Europe
Ce sont généralement les plus petites îles qui supportent les frais d’électricité les plus élevés! L’alimentation des îles en électricité coûte cher. Elle est également peu efficace et dépend d’un approvisionnement extérieur. L’Europe comptant 2 400 îles habitées, il est important de trouver une solution qui soit bonne pour l’environnement, l’économie et les habitants des îles. Le projet DG Island Mode, financé par l’UE, cherche donc des solutions au-delà des alternatives renouvelables existantes, sur lesquelles il est difficile de compter dans ce contexte. Le projet a développé un convertisseur autonome d’énergie marémotrice et de courant marin destinés à des applications hors réseau. Imaginez un cerf-volant évoluant sous l’eau, générant une vitesse près de 10 fois supérieure à celle du courant réel. Selon le projet, cette solution est facile à installer et à entretenir, tout en étant peu coûteuse. Elle est également plus propre et plus fiable pour les îles.
Objectif
15 million Europeans live on Europe’s 2,400 inhabited islands, at an average of approximately 1,500 households per island. As recognised by the European Commission, island energy is expensive, polluting, inefficient and dependent on external supply, with significant negative impacts on emissions, the competitiveness of businesses, and the economy.
Assuming that just 65% of these islands’ electricity comes from diesel, we estimate that they produce approximately 17.5 million tonnes of CO2 every year. This is further increased when considering isolated coastal communities. Existing renewable alternatives are often unsuitable for these communities, such as wind and solar power, as the energy they generate is unpredictable and intermittent, making it difficult to rely on. They also have a large land footprint and high CAPEX costs. Tidal energy is also often unsuitable, as it requires fast tidal flows (over 2.5m/s) which only occur in a few specific hot spots around the World. The technology is also expensive, with both high CAPEX and OPEX costs.
The Deep Green Island Mode (DG Island Mode) is a stand-alone tidal and ocean current energy converter for off-grid applications. The DG Island Mode is the concept of flying an underwater kite, that when steered in an 8-shaped trajectory, generates a speed of 8-10 times the speed of the actual current. This generates the following unique performance characteristics:
- Generates cost effective electricity in tidal flows as low as 1.3 m/s
- Generates up to 100kW, producing an estimated 0.35 GWh/year, enough to power 100 homes;
- Can be located close to the shore;
- Up to 15 times lighter per kW compared to other tidal energy solutions - Easy, low cost installation and maintenance (low CAPEX and OPEX costs);
- Cost of energy 50% lower than diesel generators DG Island Mode offers cheap, clean, reliable electricity generation to island communities.
Champ scientifique
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsliquid fuels
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectrical engineeringpower engineeringelectric power generation
- social scienceseconomics and businessbusiness and managementbusiness models
- natural scienceschemical sciencescatalysis
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsrenewable energyhydroelectricitymarine energytidal energy
Programme(s)
Régime de financement
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinateur
426 71 VASTRA FROLUNDA
Suède
L’entreprise s’est définie comme une PME (petite et moyenne entreprise) au moment de la signature de la convention de subvention.