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

Be the first to react!

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

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 Comments

most recent

older Most voted

Built-in feedback

View all comments

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.

Respond

Laércio

#159935

Reply to 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.

Respond

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?

Potential and Advantages of the Innovative Storage System

Testing and the Future of Renewable Energy Stored at Sea

Seven world powers including the US, China, and Russia are spending €22 billion on a reactor in the south of France that aims to confine plasma at 150 million degrees Celsius, ten times the temperature of the Sun’s core, using a magnetic field capable of lifting an entire aircraft carrier.

While Brazil has been discussing bullet trains for 16 years, China delivers 5 new high-speed lines in 2026, surpasses 50,000 km of HSR, and moves 1 billion passengers in a single year.

With a wingspan of 152 meters, 76 tires, and a capacity to carry 1,270 tons, the Boeing Pelican was the giant “flying ship” that promised to cross oceans close to the water on an invisible air cushion beneath its wings.

Elon Musk’s internet comes to mobile: Starlink technology connects smartphones without an antenna via satellite, works even without carrier signal, already costs just US$10 extra in the US, and could arrive in Brazil as an included benefit.

While countries spend billions to draw water from the sea, a Nobel-winning scientist creates a container-sized machine that extracts up to 1,000 liters per day from dry air and uses ultrasound to release water in minutes, even in the middle of the desert.

Belgium will sink 23 giant concrete caissons, each weighing 22,000 tons, in the North Sea to build the world’s first artificial energy island 45 km off the coast, forming offshore electrical walls.

The United Kingdom removed approximately 1.8 million cubic meters of sand from the seabed and is depositing it all on 6 kilometers of beaches in Norfolk, in a mega-operation to curb erosion, protect coastal villages, and shield a vital gas terminal against the encroaching Atlantic.

While heat evaporates water from reservoirs and countries seek new areas for clean energy, Morocco is testing floating solar panels that function as an energy lid and also generate electricity.

Researchers from the Australian RV Investigator map the Tasmantid Seamount Chain in the Coral Sea between 200 and 3,600 meters deep and identify 110 new species on extinct underwater volcanoes

Farm in Matopiba transforms cattle manure into natural fertilizer, becomes self-sufficient in phosphorus, and shows how crop-livestock integration can reduce costs amid Brazil’s dependence on imported fertilizers.

Brazil is left out of the European Union’s new list and could lose a billion-dollar market in agriculture: the measure threatens meats, poultry, eggs, honey, and exposes the advantage of Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay in exports to the bloc.

While tons of plastic clog streets and schools face classroom shortages, Ivory Coast uses recycled waste as walls to build study environments and expand access to education.

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?

Potential and Advantages of the Innovative Storage System

Testing and the Future of Renewable Energy Stored at Sea

Seven world powers including the US, China, and Russia are spending €22 billion on a reactor in the south of France that aims to confine plasma at 150 million degrees Celsius, ten times the temperature of the Sun’s core, using a magnetic field capable of lifting an entire aircraft carrier.

While Brazil has been discussing bullet trains for 16 years, China delivers 5 new high-speed lines in 2026, surpasses 50,000 km of HSR, and moves 1 billion passengers in a single year.

With a wingspan of 152 meters, 76 tires, and a capacity to carry 1,270 tons, the Boeing Pelican was the giant “flying ship” that promised to cross oceans close to the water on an invisible air cushion beneath its wings.

Elon Musk’s internet comes to mobile: Starlink technology connects smartphones without an antenna via satellite, works even without carrier signal, already costs just US$10 extra in the US, and could arrive in Brazil as an included benefit.

While countries spend billions to draw water from the sea, a Nobel-winning scientist creates a container-sized machine that extracts up to 1,000 liters per day from dry air and uses ultrasound to release water in minutes, even in the middle of the desert.

Belgium will sink 23 giant concrete caissons, each weighing 22,000 tons, in the North Sea to build the world’s first artificial energy island 45 km off the coast, forming offshore electrical walls.

The United Kingdom removed approximately 1.8 million cubic meters of sand from the seabed and is depositing it all on 6 kilometers of beaches in Norfolk, in a mega-operation to curb erosion, protect coastal villages, and shield a vital gas terminal against the encroaching Atlantic.

While heat evaporates water from reservoirs and countries seek new areas for clean energy, Morocco is testing floating solar panels that function as an energy lid and also generate electricity.

China occupies the desert with a 2 GW solar power plant in Inner Mongolia, installs elevated panels that create shade and humidity over the sand, and transforms a 2.96 billion kWh per year farm into an unexpected weapon against desertification.

Saudi Arabia is building in Oxagon a US$ 8.4 billion mega green hydrogen plant with 4 GW of solar and wind energy, 5.6 million solar panels, and capacity to produce 600 tons per day, transforming the desert into one of the planet’s largest clean fuel factories.

Germany and Denmark will transform Bornholm into a Baltic power island, connecting 3 GW of offshore wind power to the grids of the two countries via submarine cables and turning a real island into an international energy hub.

Brazil discovers natural hydrogen in four states and enters the silent race that could redraw the energy transition: Petrobras has already invested R$ 20 million in studies.

While heat evaporates water from reservoirs and countries seek new areas for clean energy, Morocco is testing floating solar panels that function as an energy lid and also generate electricity.

Researchers from the Australian RV Investigator map the Tasmantid Seamount Chain in the Coral Sea between 200 and 3,600 meters deep and identify 110 new species on extinct underwater volcanoes

Farm in Matopiba transforms cattle manure into natural fertilizer, becomes self-sufficient in phosphorus, and shows how crop-livestock integration can reduce costs amid Brazil’s dependence on imported fertilizers.

Brazil is left out of the European Union’s new list and could lose a billion-dollar market in agriculture: the measure threatens meats, poultry, eggs, honey, and exposes the advantage of Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay in exports to the bloc.

While tons of plastic clog streets and schools face classroom shortages, Ivory Coast uses recycled waste as walls to build study environments and expand access to education.