Brazilian startup TidalWatt has rethought underwater turbines — theirs are 60x smaller and produce 3x as much energy as wind turbines, are harmless to marine life, and promote the formation of artificial reefs.
80 percent of the world's energy is still sourced from burning fossil fuels, accounting for more than 65 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Global energy consumption has increased every year for more than 50 years, as has a corresponding urgency to shift to sustainable solutions that can keep up with demand — innovation continues in renewable energy sources such as solar and wind, but they’re not yet reliable or consistent enough to keep up with rising demand.
Another drawback is the damage that current renewable energy infrastructures causes the surrounding ecosystems; wind turbines and solar panels kill thousands of birds each year and hydroelectric dams change the ecology and landscape of rivers, threatening fish populations. Therefore, finding consistent and unobtrusive ways to source renewable energy that can keep up with increasing demand remains a critical task for innovators globally.
Enter Brazilian startup TidalWatt, which just might have unlocked the secret to capturing unlimited renewable power with no environmental risks. It has developed a new generation of underwater turbines designed specifically to capture energy in the ocean.
“When the energy source is predictable and constant, as is exclusively the case with the ocean, we say that this source offers energy security. So, in this way, the ocean is the only safe renewable energy source,” TidalWatt founder and CEO Mauricio Queiroz told Sustainable Brands®. “The ocean currents are already extensively mapped around the world; so we already know numerous positions that are ideal for the installation of our underwater plants.”
TidalWatt’s turbines are uniquely designed to capture the hydrokinetic energy associated with underwater currents. Unlike wind turbines, this technology is not based on wind/aeronautical mechanisms — which lose energy between the propellers (the venturi effect) — but continuously capture the energy generated by upstream currents.
tidalwatt.com