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Green Business

Electricity 'beamed' to homes could do away with wire transmission cables

Rob Stock05:00, Aug 02 2020
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Dr Ray Simpkin explains the laboratory prototype wireless power
transmission system being developed by Emrod in Auckland.

A Kiwi technology start-up hopes its long-range wireless power
transmission system will herald a brighter, cleaner future.

Emrod has developed a system which converts electricity into
electro-magnetic waves that can be sent wirelessly to receivers to be
converted back into electricity for use in homes and businesses.

In the long-term, founder Greg Kushnir believes the technology could
reduce humanity’s dependence on oil by making electric air travel and
shipping possible.

In the shorter-term, it’s being earmarked to deliver power to remote
New Zealand homes and island communities, and to provide emergency
power when power lines are down.

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Emrod’s prototype system, which was built with help from Callaghan
Innovation in an Auckland laboratory, was partly government-funded, and
the company has struck a deal with giant electricity distribution
company Powerco to test it in the field.

Emrod's wireless power transmission system sends microwave energy
between receivers.

Supplied

Emrod's wireless power transmission system sends microwave energy
between receivers.

“Everyone seems to be fixated on the notion that energy comes to
consumers as electricity over copper wires and I knew there had to be a
better way,” said Kushnir, an Israeli who has made New Zealand his
home.

“Energy generation and storage methods have progressed tremendously
over the last century but energy transmission has remained virtually
unchanged since Edison, Siemens, and Westinghouse first introduced
electric networks based on copper wires 150 years ago,” he said.

Relays of antenna and receivers could move electricity around the
country reducing the need to build and maintain expensive copper wire
infrastructure, and could provide a simple solution to getting remote
communities onto the grid.

Emrod’s microwave transmissioion technology could replace some costly
and unsightly power pylon networks.

supplied

Emrod’s microwave transmissioion technology could replace some costly
and unsightly power pylon networks.

The distances power could be transmitted wirelessly depended on the
size of antenna and receiver, and there must always be a clear line of
sight between them.

One such place Kushnir believed could benefit from the technology was
Stewart Island, which he said was dependent on diesel generators for
much of its power.

Underwater power cables were expensive to instal and maintain, he said.

“We have an abundance of clean hydro, solar, and wind energy available
around the world but there are costly challenges that come with
delivering that energy using traditional methods, for example, offshore
wind farms, or the Cook Strait here in New Zealand requiring underwater
cables which are expensive to instal and maintain,” Kushnir said.

Emrod had not invented the technology, but its innovation was
developing it for use outside of the military and space industries, he
said.

“This technology isn’t new. It’s been around for a few decades. About
50 years ago Nasa kept a helicopter drone in the air with a beam of
energy from the ground.”

It was also being developed for military use in the US for keeping
drones in perpetual flight.

Some world-changing technologies, such as the internet, had made the
leap from military use to civil society use, Kushnir said.

“The developers of the internet didn’t have social media in mind,
didn’t think search engines, or Instagram and Facebook. It really
started changing people’s lives when it went from military to civil
usage. I hope that’s what we are doing.”

Emrod founder Greg Kushnir says there has been precious little advance
in electricity transmission technology since Edison invented the light
bulb.

supplied

Emrod founder Greg Kushnir says there has been precious little advance
in electricity transmission technology since Edison invented the light
bulb.

The technology could also help to reduce the visual footprint of power
transmission, Kushnir said, but he did not expect it to one day replace
all copper wires.

“We can definitely get rid of pylons where they are most intrusive like
natural reserves and forests where they get struck by branches every
winter,” he said.

Antenna and receivers could be camouflaged, Dr Ray Simpkin of Callaghan
Innovation said, who had developed the prototype for Emrod.

While high intensity electro-magnetic beams could be dangerous, they
could be sheathed in a laser “curtain”, Simpkin said. When the laser
curtain was interrupted by an object passing through it, the power
would be momentarily shut off.

As the beam was fired from antenna to antenna, it did not come into
contact with people, he said.

Artist's impression of how Emrod wireless power transmission could
enable natural features to be crossed without using copper wires.

Supplied

Artist's impression of how Emrod wireless power transmission could
enable natural features to be crossed without using copper wires.

Wireless power transmission could also reduce transmission costs,
Kushnir said.

“Hopefully that would be reflected in energy prices,” Kushnir said.

Powerco’s network transformation manager Nicolas Vessiot said the
company was to see whether Emrod’s technology could complement existing
power networks.

“We envisage using this to deliver electricity in remote places, or
across areas with challenging terrain,” Vessiot said.

“There’s also potential to use it to keep the lights on for our
customers when we’re doing maintenance on our existing infrastructure.”

Emrod will deliver a prototype to Powerco in October before moving to a
field trial next year.

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