IHI Corporation and New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) have built a 100kW tidal device that will be deployed for real-sea trials next month.
The demonstration system, called Kairyu, is a 100kW floating device that will be deployed mid-August 2017 for trials that aim to verify power generation and control system of the device.
It will be installed at the water depth of 100 meters at a site located 5 km off the coast of Kuchinoshima island, in Japan’s Kagoshima Prefecture, where it will harness the energy of Kuroshio current to produce power.
The device was constructed at IHI’s Yokohama plant, and will undergo a week-long towing trials off Kushikino Port starting at the end of July, before being deployed at the demonstration site.
IHI said it expects to commercialize the technology by 2020, with plans to use it to supply clean energy for isolated communities.