Natural Energy Engine in Hawaii

The demand for change is getting louder and Deluge, Inc. is now poised to deliver to Hawaii a radical upgrade in mechanical engineering that will have far-reaching effects worldwide, and potentially increase Big Island renewable electricity generation from the current 30% which comes from geothermal, wind, solar and hydro.

The “Natural Energy Engine” developed by Deluge has gone from an inventor’s garage model to commercialization in Hawaii, where consumers pay four times the price for electricity as their counterparts on the mainland.

Proof of the operating principles of the engine was achieved at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Rocky Mountain Oil Testing Center in Wyoming, where a prototype engine successfully pumped crude oil from underground formations using geothermal energy as the sole source of heat for fuel.

The new demands for change in infrastructure require a change in technology, not “fixes” using the same old thinking.

Deluge, based in Arizona, nears completion of the first of two 250 kW engine/generators at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority state-owned facility near Kona. The second unit for this project has just been configured in Deluge’s manufacturing center in Phoenix, and is now being shipped to Kona for installation.

The generators will supply renewable electricity to the Big Island electric grid , although a launch date has not been set. (Check out the video in the above link at about 8:25 in to see why we pay so much for electricity on the Big Island due to PURPA)

The two units, each comprising 16 dual-piston engine cylinders, will be fed heat from solar thermal collectors built by Sopogy, Inc. of Hawaii. The Deluge engines will convert that heat to hydraulic pressure to drive the generators. The cooling cycle for the engines uses cold seawater from NELHA’s deep ocean facility.

The team of Deluge and Sopogy hope to build solar electric plants around the world.

Fuel Mix Among the Islands (2007 calendar year)

The percentage of fuels used to produce electricity is based on the amount of electricity generated by the HECO family of companies and the amount purchased from independent power producers in 2007.