JEDDAH: Saudi inventor Nasser Al-Shemaimry showed a method to harness energy from ocean currents using turbines at a press conference at the Movenpick hotel in Jeddah on Wednesday.
The press conference was attended by Prince Abdulaziz bin Nasser, who served at the Ministry of Interior for more than 40 years.
Al-Shemaimry, CEO of OceanBased Perpetual Energy, founded in Miami, signed a memorandum of understanding with Prince Abdulaziz.
“This memorandum will be presented to the inventor Nasser Al-Shemaimry for engineering supplies and most office services,” he told Arab News. “And to connect with ministries, and we will help him with anything he needs.”
Al-Shemaimry’s project was first used in south Florida to harness the Florida Gulf Stream current and convert it to clean and renewable power.
“Oceans and seas have some currents that go from one direction to another, the current varies in speed, but the current we are using is 5 to 6 miles per hour,” he told Arab News.
“Five-six miles per hour is enough to make the propellers turn, and our propeller is 64 meters long, so as it turns, it turns the turbines inside of the cowling, and that turbine rotates the generator, which produces electricity,” he said.
He said that his project takes the electricity from the generator to a substation then the substation regulates the electricity to what is needed.
“Then it goes to the shore and we connect it to the main substation on shore, then it is up to the city hall or the people who are in charge of the town, city or country to take it from there and take it to the power lines,” he said.
Highlighting how it compares to other sustainable power sources such as solar or wind, he said the ocean provided a continuous and uninterrupted supply of energy.
For solar energy requirements, he said as long as the sun was up the panels would work and charge batteries.
“Each energy source has its own advantages and disadvantages. Solar energy has been around forever, it works and serves its purpose, it’s inexpensive and on land,” he said.
“Windmills are everywhere, but the difference in my opinion is that our energy is perpetual; it doesn’t stop, it works 24/7 and 365 days a year.”
Since the launch of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 in 2016, Saudi Arabia has made effective efforts to protect the environment and reduce the effects of climate change to achieve sustainability.
Extensive studies within the Green Saudi Initiative revealed a reduction of carbon emissions by more than 4 percent, and efforts to provide 50 percent electricity through renewable energy projects by the year 2030.
