Technology:

Geothermal Energy to Power Submarine Drones (Forbes)

The “Persistent Renewable Energy for Undersea Systems (PREUS)” program is one of the more intriguing concepts begin considered by the Office of Naval Research. The PREUS program is developing generators that will be able to convert heat from geothermal vents on the ocean floor into electric power.

The objective is to extend the service life of Unmanned undersea vehicles (UUVs), or submarine drones, by resupplying their energy in-situ. In other words, UUVs may soon be doing a lot more than detecting underwater mines.

“The main conclusion is that the available (supposedly reasonable) geothermal power that could be generated from well known hydrothermal vent sites in some of the ocean ridges is of the same order of magnitude of the EGS geothermal power that eventually can be produced in the whole world,” according to a study by researchers from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico.

The study evaluated the technical feasibility of tapping this energy source by siting submarine generators above the vent to run an organic Rankine cycle thermal plant. The economic and environmental barriers are huge, but so is the military’s budget.

Read More.....