New Zealand start-up Emrod has developed what it claims to be the first long range wireless power transmission as an alternative to current copper line technology used around the globe.
Emrod has developed a prototype of the system using its own ‘Emrod technology’: electromagnetic waves which are used to transmit energy wireless over long distances. The prototype of the system has received government funding and was built alongside the New Zealand government’s tech business support agency, Callaghan Innovation.
Greg Kushnir, founder, Emrod, commented: “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 install and maintain.
“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… 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.”
The technology reportedly has the potential to increase capacity to support remote communities in Africa and the Pacific Islands with cheaper, sustainable energy to power schools, hospitals and economies, as Kushnir said: “We are talking about a potential 50 per cent increase in sustainable energy uptake, up to 85 per cent reduction in outages and up to 65 per cent reduction in electricity infrastructure costs due to the Emrod solution.”
Emrod will be delivering a new prototype to New Zealand power distributor Powerco in October, spending two to three months carrying out lab testing and training Powerco personnel on the system before moving to a field trial.
Kushnir: “The system we are currently building for Powerco will transmit only a few kilowatts but we can use the exact same technology to transmit 100 times more power over much longer distances. Wireless systems using Emrod technology can transmit any amount of power current wired solutions transmit.”