The dream of energy transmitted without the need for cables, freely throughout the world, is noble and very advanced but has ancient roots.
In 1890, 130 years before Emrod, the startup which I will tell you about, a genius of the first magnitude like Nikola Tesla opened up a future of wireless energy. The inventor demonstrated that he could power light bulbs from more than 3 kilometers (two miles) away. His 42-meter (140-foot) “Tesla coil” succeeded perfectly in the feat. Unfortunately, he burned down the local power station's dynamo and plunged the entire town of Colorado Springs into a blackout. 11.000 inhabitants who would soon run into the effects of Nikola Tesla's secrets.
The father of modern electricity had many, and many he took with him (or were stolen), but after that attempt with its "bittersweet" effects he fell back on other experiments and other goals.
Today a startup in New Zealand believes it can complete what Tesla (and Witricity) left in half. His dream of transmitting energy wirelessly may come true soon. The startup, Emrod, managed to convince an important energy distributor to create a commercial version of this type of distribution.
Why is it so exciting?
Emrod sees wireless transmission as a key technology for renewable energy, which is often generated far from where it is needed. This type of system could be great for bringing the products of offshore and remote renewable energy generation into urban grids without the need for giant storage batteries and the like. One of Tesla's secrets involved the exploitation of stationary terrestrial waves, distributed on the surface of the Earth, to transmit energy from one point on the planet to another. Energy that would then have been enough to simply “capture” with a system. A bit like you do to pick up a radio broadcast.
How Emrod wireless energy works
Emrod's system uses a transmitting antenna, a series of relays and a rectenna receiving. This is a "straightening" antenna, capable of converting the microwave energy emitted by the system into electricity. Needless to say, unlike Tesla's dream of free and globally accessible energy, Emrod's is beamed directly between specific points that are on a specific path.
Emrod says the system works in all weather conditions (rain, fog and even dust storms). The transmission distance is limited only by a line of sight between each relay. This is why Emrod's energy has the potential to transmit energy thousands of kilometers, at a fraction of the infrastructure, maintenance and environmental impact costs imposed by a wired solution.
Next steps
Now Emrod will take several months in laboratory tests before moving on to a field test. If it works, wireless power transmission will soon be a reality.
