A donut-shaped island could soon emerge in Belgium. Not just any island but an 'artificial' piece of land, so arranged to store excess wind energy produced by the country's offshore wind farms
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
Soon in Belgium could arise a 'donut-shaped island. Not an already existing island but an 'artificial' piece of land, so arranged to store theexcess wind energy produced by the country's offshore wind farms.
Using sand from the North Sea, Belgium plans to build the island there to recover otherwise lost renewable energies. According to the current project it should be about three kilometers from the coast.
But how will it store the energy? When excess power is generated by the wind farms, it is sent to the island, whose "central hole" will be used to pump water into the ocean in turn. When power is needed, the same water will be thrown into the hole using pipes and turbines for energy production. This means that when the demand is higher or the wind is absent, the water will be able to flow back to the reservoir, spin the turbines and produce energy to be sent back to the continent.
Belgium currently stands increasing its wind power generation capacity, even if it is not yet at the level of other European countries. Overall, wind represents less than 4% of installed electricity generation, although a 2011 report from the European Wind Energy Association predicts that Belgium may quadruple its wind capacity by 2020. Second to Reuters, this country of around 11 million people hopes to generate 2.300 megawatts from its offshore wind farms.
An important step was taken in Belgium, given that the country until recently was nuclearist. Suffice it to say that in 2011, over half of the electricity produced in Belgium came from the atom. But in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster he was one of the first together with Switzerland and Germany a disavow the use of nuclear energy.
All efforts have now been directed towards renewables and even the recovery of excess clean energy. By increasing the yield, renewables would in no way make us regret the atom.
The idea of a donut-shaped island would make Homer Simpson go crazy with joy but not only.
"We have a lot of energy from the windmills and sometimes it just gets lost because there is not enough demand for the electricity," a spokesman for the minister said. Johan Vande Lanotte. "This is a great solution".
Francesca Mancuso
Read also:
- Nuclear accident in Belgium in Dessel: three contaminated
- Kitegen, producing wind power with kites
