Hydropower production technology using trucks

The researchers designed a system that generates electricity from trucks traveling on ramps, eliminating the need to build hydroelectric dams.

The Electric Truck Hydropower system, developed by scientists from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, can be used in mountainous areas with many steep roads. Initially, at the "electrical charging point" located at high altitude above a river flowing through the mountains, the researchers filled large tanks with river water. Each tank is placed on a separate electric vehicle to be transported down the mountain.

The Electric Truck Hydropower system uses ramps that run along the river.

Due to the slope of the road, the driver will have to use the brakes at all times and the water adds to the inertial mass of the vehicle. Thanks to the regenerative braking system, the journey down the mountain will generate electricity to use to charge the truck's battery. To get to the "discharge point" at the foot of the mountain, the team takes a water tank from a truck, the water in the tank is poured back into the river and the vehicle's battery pack is disassembled to supply electricity to the local grid. The truck will then carry the empty battery and install a replacement battery pack to recharge it when it reaches the charging point.

According to the above idea, a fleet of trucks will move continuously between two points, collecting and dumping water. The amount of electricity that the truck consumes while on the road will be significantly less than the amount of electricity generated when going down the mountain. In fact, the scientists estimate that if applied on a global scale, the system could produce 1.2 petawatt-hours of electricity annually. That number accounted for 4% of the world's electricity consumption in 2019.

The estimated cost of the system is $30-100 per megawatt hour. Meanwhile, the cost of conventional hydropower is 50-200 USD per megawatt hour. The team detailed how the Electric Truck Hydropower system works recently in the journal Energy.

While hydroelectric dams can produce a lot of electricity, the construction also has a big impact on the environment. In a hydroelectric plant, the dam spans the river, creating a reservoir to create the upstream area. When the dam gate is opened, water from the reservoir flows through and falls to a lower height, turning turbines and generating electricity. But the process of building the reservoir also flooded a lot of land, forests, crops and even people's houses. The arrival of the dam also significantly slows down the river's flow, raises the water temperature, and causes sediment to accumulate. In addition, dams also prevent fish from migrating upstream to spawn.

"The new technology does not require hydroelectric dams, reservoirs or tunnels, does not disrupt the natural flow of rivers and migratory fish," said study leader Julian Hunt. "The system uses only available roads, charging and discharging stations similar to small car parks, battery packs connected to the electric grid and trucks."