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.
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.
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.
“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 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.
Or the Late Permian Siberian Traps when the crust ripped open, erupted for 2 million years, and "are believed to be the primary cause of the Permian–Triassic extinction event, the most severe extinction event in the geologic record": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberian_Traps
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.
Did they though? Syndrome had a volcano base for sure, but I don't remember them ever showing a powerplant. The guy was harnessing zero point energy somehow; doesn't seem like mere lava would interest him as a power source.
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?
Remote places don’t have a lack of jobs because of a lack of energy (many of them have a lot of it), but because they are remote. Exploration of a new resource might change how remote they are (Dubai is less remote today than before oil was discovered), but only if the resource is sobering with developing linkages for. Not sure why it would be worth tapping underwater volcanoes in a currently remote place when there are plenty of geothermal sources in less remote places available.
> 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
Volcanoes and underwater jobs? Sounds like Sci-fi Horrors
Dr Evil in shambles!
Anyone need sugar? He has some in his pocket. How about cream? No thanks!
Also, let's not sell him short: those aren't video calls, they're ransom calls.
Seems like a headline grabber and not a real solution but hopefully some useful tech comes out of it.
“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
Geothermal power -> some % saved for atmospheric carbon extraction makes it a carbon negative endeavor.
Relieve the US energy woes somewhat.
Use the carbon to make methane for his rockets.
And make some diesel fuel too, while he's at it (though he'll have to stock up on soybeans - great for his eventual presidential run)
Anyone?
Some tropes become only known from their parodies, and they lead to other parodies.
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?
Volcanoes and underwater jobs? Sounds like Sci-fi Horrors
Correct, the novel is called Starfish by Peter Watts. Though it's mostly not the volcano that kills people.