Germany Innovates with Concrete Spheres to Store Renewable Energy Underwater

Written by Carla Teles

Published on 29/05/2025 at 21:00

Descubra como a Alemanha está usando esferas de concreto gigantes no fundo do mar para armazenar energia renovável. Uma solução inovadora (StEnSea) para os desafios da energia limpa. Foto: Aplicação futura de uma planta StEnSea, divulgação Fraunhofer IEE

Seja o primeiro a reagir!

StEnSea Project Uses Ingenious Technology to Store Electricity from Sources like Solar and Wind, Tackling the Challenge of Intermittency and Driving the Future of Renewable Energy.

Germany is exploring an innovative frontier in renewable energy storage. Gigantic concrete spheres are being installed on the seabed. The aim is noble: to create an efficient system to store the excess electricity generated by clean sources, such as solar and wind, ensuring a more stable and reliable supply.

The Challenge of Storing Clean Energy and the German Solution

The transition to sources of renewable energy is crucial. However, the intermittency of these sources poses a significant challenge. The sun does not shine at night, and the wind does not always blow with the necessary intensity. To overcome this limitation, German scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology (IWES) developed the StEnSea project (Stored Energy in the Sea). The initiative aims to effectively store large amounts of energy.

How Do the Giant Submerged Concrete Spheres Work?

The StEnSea system operates ingeniously, adapting the principle of pumped-storage hydroelectricity. The hollow concrete spheres, approximately 30 meters in diameter, are submerged at great depths in the sea. When there is excess renewable energy on the grid, this electricity is used to pump water out of the spheres.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW

Major Oil, Gas, and Energy Event Will Take Place in Brazil: Macaé Energy Will Gather Petrobras, Equinor, Prio, Among Other Suppliers and Energy Executives for Business, Networking, and Employment Opportunities

The Technical Agenda and the Fair in the City of Macaé Should Boost Discussions on Investments, Energy Transition, and Development of the Oil, Gas, and Energy Chain in the National...

Paulo Nogueira

When the demand for energy increases or the output from renewable sources decreases, the water is released back into the spheres. As it flows, the water passes through an integrated turbine, generating electricity that is then sent to the grid. This process allows energy to be stored and made available as needed.

Potential and Advantages of the Innovative Storage System

Each of these giant spheres has the capacity to store up to 20 MWh (megawatt-hours) of energy. This represents a considerable amount, capable of powering a significant number of households. According to information from the Terra portal, the system’s efficiency increases with the depth of installation. Depths starting from 700 meters are considered ideal for optimizing the technology’s performance. The scalability of the project is another advantage, allowing for the installation of multiple modules according to storage needs.

Testing and the Future of Renewable Energy Stored at Sea

A prototype of the StEnSea system has been successfully tested at Lake Constance in Germany. The results demonstrated the technical and operational viability of the concept. These tests were crucial in validating the technology’s potential as a practical solution for large-scale renewable energy storage.

By investing in solutions like the submerged concrete spheres, Germany reinforces its commitment to innovation and sustainability. This project represents an important step towards enabling a future where renewable energy can be harnessed continuously and reliably, overcoming the challenges of its intermittent nature.

2 Comentários

Mais recente

Mais antigos Mais votado

Feedbacks

Visualizar todos comentários

Dalton

#139481

30/05/2025 11:44

Eu sugeriria o contrário. Bombear a água para um local mais alto em um reservatório, e depois gerar energia com a água descendo nas turbinas.

Responder

Laércio

#159935

Em resposta a Dalton

21/08/2025 12:08

Isso inunda grandes terrenos, requer muito espaço, arrasam com a flora e a fauna entre outros tantos problemas, inclusive monetários.

Responder

Germany Innovates with Concrete Spheres to Store Renewable Energy Underwater

StEnSea Project Uses Ingenious Technology to Store Electricity from Sources like Solar and Wind, Tackling the Challenge of Intermittency and Driving the Future of Renewable Energy.

The Challenge of Storing Clean Energy and the German Solution

How Do the Giant Submerged Concrete Spheres Work?

Major Oil, Gas, and Energy Event Will Take Place in Brazil: Macaé Energy Will Gather Petrobras, Equinor, Prio, Among Other Suppliers and Energy Executives for Business, Networking, and Employment Opportunities

Potential and Advantages of the Innovative Storage System

Testing and the Future of Renewable Energy Stored at Sea

Where there was only sand and wind at 40 degrees, China built a megacity of 500,000 inhabitants with farms, wineries, and universities in the middle of the desert using melted glacier water from hundreds of kilometers away.

At over 8,800 meters above sea level, the summit of Mount Everest is made up of rocks that originated at the bottom of an ocean about 500 million years ago and were pushed to the highest point on Earth by the collision of tectonic plates.

What seemed like waste has turned into a barrier, and now human hair collected from salons helps retain debris in the water of ancestral channels in Latin America.

Health issues urgent alert for flu and calls for the vaccination of the elderly, children, and pregnant women this Saturday with Day D and drive-thru in Curitiba.

The radio has been in more than half of Brazilian households for decades, and in 2024, for the first time in history, the number of households without a device surpassed those with a device, with a decrease of 2.3 million in just one year.

China banned the export of 22 tons of meat from Argentina.

USA and China compete for Brazil over resources that could be worth trillions — rare earths put the country at the center of a global dispute

Motorola launched the Signature with a gold seal from DxOMark, tying with the iPhone 17 Pro in camera performance, Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 that surpassed 3 million in benchmarks, and a zoom that impresses even at night.

Satellites reveal beneath the Sahara a giant river buried for thousands of kilometers: study shows that the largest hot desert on the planet was once traversed by a river system comparable to the largest on Earth.

The government requests the Federal Revenue Service for a new system to automate the income tax declaration, reducing errors, time, and bureaucracy for millions of Brazilians.

With 74% of companies facing difficulties in hiring, technicians and engineers in renewable energy are becoming scarce in Brazil and are essential to support the expansion of solar, wind, and green hydrogen projects.

Germany Innovates with Concrete Spheres to Store Renewable Energy Underwater

StEnSea Project Uses Ingenious Technology to Store Electricity from Sources like Solar and Wind, Tackling the Challenge of Intermittency and Driving the Future of Renewable Energy.

The Challenge of Storing Clean Energy and the German Solution

How Do the Giant Submerged Concrete Spheres Work?

Major Oil, Gas, and Energy Event Will Take Place in Brazil: Macaé Energy Will Gather Petrobras, Equinor, Prio, Among Other Suppliers and Energy Executives for Business, Networking, and Employment Opportunities

Potential and Advantages of the Innovative Storage System

Testing and the Future of Renewable Energy Stored at Sea

Where there was only sand and wind at 40 degrees, China built a megacity of 500,000 inhabitants with farms, wineries, and universities in the middle of the desert using melted glacier water from hundreds of kilometers away.

At over 8,800 meters above sea level, the summit of Mount Everest is made up of rocks that originated at the bottom of an ocean about 500 million years ago and were pushed to the highest point on Earth by the collision of tectonic plates.

What seemed like waste has turned into a barrier, and now human hair collected from salons helps retain debris in the water of ancestral channels in Latin America.

Health issues urgent alert for flu and calls for the vaccination of the elderly, children, and pregnant women this Saturday with Day D and drive-thru in Curitiba.

The radio has been in more than half of Brazilian households for decades, and in 2024, for the first time in history, the number of households without a device surpassed those with a device, with a decrease of 2.3 million in just one year.

China banned the export of 22 tons of meat from Argentina.

The Brazilian state accelerates industrial competitiveness with a focus on the extraction of strategic minerals to boost the energy transition in Goiás.

A Canadian retiree creates a hydroelectric system on a real river, generating energy continuously throughout the day and demonstrating how the power of water can supply a house with stability even in a simple structure.

Petrobras reaffirms its commitment to the market and ensures that it will carry out the energy transition safely to maintain national sovereignty.

Researchers discover a possible hydrogen deposit of up to 46 million tons beneath an ancient coal basin, and the volume could exceed half of the entire global production.

China bets on the Fishery-PV model and transforms fish farms into giant solar plants, covering ponds with panels that generate energy while utilizing the same space for large-scale aquaculture production.

USA and China compete for Brazil over resources that could be worth trillions — rare earths put the country at the center of a global dispute

Motorola launched the Signature with a gold seal from DxOMark, tying with the iPhone 17 Pro in camera performance, Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 that surpassed 3 million in benchmarks, and a zoom that impresses even at night.

Satellites reveal beneath the Sahara a giant river buried for thousands of kilometers: study shows that the largest hot desert on the planet was once traversed by a river system comparable to the largest on Earth.

The government requests the Federal Revenue Service for a new system to automate the income tax declaration, reducing errors, time, and bureaucracy for millions of Brazilians.

With 74% of companies facing difficulties in hiring, technicians and engineers in renewable energy are becoming scarce in Brazil and are essential to support the expansion of solar, wind, and green hydrogen projects.