Due to the high costs of energy, other sources that are sustainable and without CO2 emissions have been chosen. Although research is ongoing to make them more efficient. Wood has demonstrated its virtues in this sector and now we will see how it will put an end to conventional solar panels and skyrocket its efficiency.
Wood says goodbye to solar panels with this innovative invention: it produces energy only with water.
Hydroelectric power plants are the most widely used source of electricity in the country. However, they have several problems, the main one being the environmental cost they imply because large extensions must be flooded, which leads to the alteration and destruction of biodiversity.
That is why a non-profit ecological group called Viseta has been studying, designing and building an alternative solution for several years. It consists of a revolutionary wooden turbine that competes with solar panels and destroys them.
A wood hydraulic turbine for rivers: more than 19,000 mills working in the same direction.
It can be built on site and does not require large river currents, so in addition to encouraging self-consumption, it reduces environmental impact. Prototypes have shown that it generates more energy, on a small scale, than solar panels of similar power.
The latter is due to the fact that it is a scalable solution that can be adapted to any location, as long as there is a river. One of the project’s objectives is to take advantage of the nearly 19,000 water-powered wooden mills in France, but only 20% of which are used.
To do this, they adapt them in a very ingenious way using the principle of Archimedes’ famous worm screw. This was used in ancient times to lift material and food to higher levels and for pumping water. Which it does in an environmentally friendly and emission-free way.
This worm screw, simply put, is a hollow cylinder that sits on an inclined plane. As it rotates, it then lifts the material placed under the axis of rotation. Viseta has varied its design so that the movement is carried out with the help of the water currents of the river.
In this way, a turbine is turned to produce energy. In 2023, the first wooden turbine was manufactured on a 1:3 scale on a test bench, thanks to the prizes obtained in applied science competitions given by several French institutes and the contribution of their members.
This prototype, whose power is 500 W, had all the necessary components such as inlet and outlet channel, pumps, flowmeter and fluid level measurements with its motorized adjustment devices, electric generator, electric control and everything related to power electronics.
It should be noted that this wood turbine, apart from generating electricity on a small scale, has an objective related to the environment. That is to stimulate the “ecological continuity of the rivers”, so that it does not become one more obstacle to the 88,000 fish that overcome each year.
What tests are missing for its final implementation? This is the way to the first 10 kW
During the first test, one of the critical parameters was the electrical power generated, which turned out to be completely satisfactory. A second prototype is now being tested on the river in the commune of Cier-de-Rivière, Haute-Garonne in the south of France.
This one included some improvements such as in the turbine, among others. This test was equally successful and a complete hydroelectric station that will generate 10 kW is in the process of being built. One of the advantages is that its construction and assembly is very simple and fast.
As you can see, wood is a very versatile material. It allows the construction of elements such as this turbine which, although it generates electricity on a different scale, is a viable solution for small communities that need more efficient solar panels to take approach of the smaller space.
