Harvesting energy in the depths of the ocean

In just a few years, oceanographic sensors located 2,000 meters under the ocean’s surface could be powered by biobatteries feeding off of electroactive bacteria. Researchers at Leti are teaming up with a chemical engineering lab in Toulouse that is pioneering biobatteries that harvest their energy from deep ocean sediments. The next step will be to build an operational demonstrator (planned for summer 2015) that will be tested in association with Ifremer, France’s national oceanographic institute.
Today’s biobatteries produce energy that is not directly usable—either in terms of voltage or current intensity—by marine instruments. Leti scientists are working to develop biobattery-specific electronics to solve this problem. At the same time, they will work on adapting the concept to off-grid instrumentation for farming applications through a project carried out in partnership with the CEA Life Sciences Division.
 

Contact: gael.pillonnet@cea.fr

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