Startup taps underwater volcano as energy source in “proof point” test

My first thought was to wonder what the impact is on existing hydrothermal ecosystems.

The Axial Seamount area is not at all some dead barren zone we can just tap into without concern for ecological harm. Hydrothermal vent areas are very vibrant ecosystems that influence deep ocean ecology in ways we already understand, and probably ways we don't yet understand.

I am glad to see in their press release [1] they do mention careful selection of sites, conditions for operation, and ecological monitoring. And the area is already the focus of oceanographic research by various institutions.

[1] https://www.enduranceenergy.com/press/adelie

“The company is also developing a larger 2-megawatt commercial generator for its first planned commercial deployment with the Kingdom of Tonga in 2027. The Polynesian island nation in the South Pacific Ocean runs its power grid primarily on imported diesel fuel, which has significantly increased in price since the United States and Israel launched their war with Iran.

“The 2 MW commercial generators will be about the size of a shipping container, and we are deploying up to six of these generators [to] offshore Tonga,” Redd told Ars. “The physical footprint of this project will be relatively small.”

Nice potential application! I’m not sure of the scaling economics but I certainly do love to see all forms of power generation explored

I have quite a few friends that work at Endurance. I’m excited by their development and to see them making news. Their concept is a cool one. Interested to see how they balance potentially disrupting those ecosystems with putting electricity on the grid.

Man how high is that equivalent LCOE. No way does capex and opex on this work out. Geothermal underwater with a heat source thats potentially changing a lot.

Seems like a headline grabber and not a real solution but hopefully some useful tech comes out of it.

It is actually entertaining that there is a plausible use for the most super-villain-coded obsession with volcanoes

Great news for island nations and territories if this can scale. There’s something very sci-fi about islands powered by underwater volcanoes, and the jobs it could create would be fascinating. Going from pearl divers to subsea power-station drone technicians, ha.

I wonder what industries it could help thrive. afaik Iceland has a relatively big aluminium smelting industry due to its cheap, excess geothermal power. Could we see new opportunities spring up in places like Kerguelen, South Georgia or Tristan da Cunha? Modern takes on whaling stations?

I have tried that in Oxygen Not Included. The problem is that magma quickly solidifies when you remove energy. I wonder if they took that into account.

When I read stuff like this, or how China is apparently drilling toward the core, I just can't help but wonder (as a layman) what kind of rippling effects harvesting this heat without truly knowing how many physical properties of the world or ecosystems depend on it. The same with windmills. Like it's nice that these energy sources exist and can be used, but when we slow the natural weather fronts with windmills, or we siphon heat away from the core faster than it might naturally permeate, what kind of side-effects is that causing? I'm just very leery of tampering with the forces of nature without extensively exploring and making predictions about possible outcomes

βehemoth incoming

For goodness sakes don't puncture the crust. We'd be back to the Hadean era.

So what's the key thing that determines feasibility?

The article references an expert who is skeptical, saying that this is unlikely to be cheaper than just doing it on land (standard geothermal)?

The article also references reasons to think this could be worthwhile. Cooling, pressure, etc. One could also guess that permitting could be easier.

But I'm left not really understanding whether they proved enough, or what really needs to be proven.

They should try to recreate the origins of life there while they're at it.

THats... Wow. Ok, I didn't expect to read something so strange but useful here. I'm just scared of what consequences it could have in the reality, like creating natural disasters or simila

Elon is going to demand access to the Yellowstone Caldera pretty soon I'm guessing.

"Thank God it's only a motion picture!"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crack_in_the_World

I feel that I should be able name several Jules Verne characters, "B" movie villains, and such who powered their underwater lairs and/or sinister superweapons this way - but I'm coming up blank.

Anyone?

Sounds like the plot of a James Bond story.

Designing equipment that will operate reliably at the conditions of this depth is arguably an order of magnitude harder than designing reliable systems that operate in orbit. The expense of lift out of earth's gravity well aside, the actual operating environment is space is clean, with low pressure differentials, lacking corrosion and bio-fouling.

An example of how difficult and complex this is can be readily observed in a 40 year long research grade power plant at NELHA near Kona, HI. The OTEC process uses warm surface seawater to evaporate a working fluid ( ammonia water mixture) using the vapor to drive an electric turbine, and then uses cold deep seawater from 2200ft (~671m) to drive the condenser loop and recirculate the working fluid. The significant difficulties are the massive heat exchangers required to make it work and all of the seawater facing systems face continual bio-fouling and corrosion problems.

They achieve a minimal efficiency and struggle to compete on cost with solar and wind. This is the state of the technology, when mechanical operations are just above sea level and the only real problems at depth are pipeline collapse due to over-accelerated flow and the aforementioned bio-fouling.

Moving those operations to a greater depth significantly changes the pressure. OTEC's pipe only has to deal with 2200 feet / 66.7 atmospheres (~980ppsi) while the wiring and enclosures of the 'lava thermal' rig only survived a few minutes of operation at 5000 feet / 151.5 atmospheres (~2227ppsi). It is illogical to expect for any durable, low cost, renewable power to be reliably operated under those conditions.

This also risks destabilizing poorly understood ecosystems with organisms whose lifespans typically exceed the span of time we have been studying them.

Where these activities occur in international waters the UN International Seafloor Authority requires multi-year environmental baseline studies. Prior to any non-research installation, requirements include biodiversity monitoring, chemical outputs and impacts. before any structural installations are authorized. Contractors are required to continually map biodiversity (microbes, unique gastropods, and specialized crabs) and to monitor chemical outputs in order to avoid permanently impacting the ecosystem's natural dynamics.

So, moving into 'Exclusive Economic Zone' water of a kingdom without rigorous international oversight is an indicator of how this company views the potential regulatory market.

The image of 'saving Tonga from diesel' is a nice greenwash, but if this was economically motivated and truly viable, then locations much closer to megawatt scale underserved growing markets with investment potential and scalar consumer demand, such as the Azores, New Zealand, or Izu Japan would be where this happens first.

So, nice toy research and fancy press publicity with the opportunity to get "It works" headlines and unlock the next Series A tranche is all I can see from here. Hard pass, full stop.

I’ve been expecting Oracle to do this. It’d solve their current data center power problem. And it gives a place for Ellison to have video calls with the UN.