A team of researchers from the Public University of Navarra (UPNA) has achieved “for the first time in the world” get electricity taking advantage of the heat from the subsoil in a volcano located in the Antarctica. The goal is to provide continuous power to devices that monitor volcanic activity.as reported by the State Investigation Agency (AEI).
This milestone represents an advance in scope so that the scientific-technological community can develop in the future a system capable of predict volcanic eruptions and thus reduce the impact on the population. Professor David Astrain has led the UPNA Thermal and Fluid Engineering group that has achieved this achievement.
The Vivoteg project (Autonomous Thermoelectric Generators for Volcanic Surveillance) was launched “to develop an unprecedented technology, based on thermoelectric generators capable of taking advantage of the geothermal heat present in the fumaroles of the active volcanos to produce electricity and thus be able to power the volcanic monitoring stations”. Vivoteg is one of the 19 projects financed by the State Research Agency within the Spanish Antarctic Campaign 2023/2024.
“This technology, combined with high-efficiency passive heat exchangers without moving parts, is extremely robust, reliable and compact, and has the great advantage of producing electrical energy continuously, with independence of environmental conditions or solar radiation,” explains David Astrain.
The researcher points out that it is estimated that the 10% of the world population lives less than 100 kilometers away from an active volcano, that is, “with the possibility of erupting.” Therefore, geological study and volcanic monitoring “are extremely important to better understand these phenomena and be able to predict a possible eruption, reducing the potential impact on the population.” However, only 30% of the world’s active volcanoes are being monitored, according to the World Organization of Volcano Observatories.
“One of the main reasons for this lack is found in the technological challenge represented by the energy supply necessary to power the measurement sensors and equipment for transmitting geological and volcanological data, especially in remote places and extreme weather,” details the UPNA professor.
Without precedents
During the current Antarctic Campaign, the Vivoteg project research team has managed, for the first time worldwide, to generate electrical energy continuously in the Antarcticafrom geothermal heat that is released through volcanic fumaroles.
The group led by David Astrain has invented and developed an unprecedented technology, which they have patented, based on Seebeck effect thermoelectric modules, which are capable of transform geothermal heat in electrical energy. These take advantage of the temperature difference between the heat of the fumaroles and the cold ambient air of Antarctica.
This geothermal thermoelectric generator has been installed in the Disappointment, which is one of the two active volcanoes that exist in Antarctica. There, several research projects related to volcanic geology are developed, housed at the Spanish Military Base Gabriel de Castilla.
“This is, therefore, an unprecedented and very significant advance in polar research, as it is the first time achieved this renewable and continuous generation of electrical energy in Antarctica, improving the geological study and volcanic monitoring of the area. With the installation of these generators it will be possible, for the first time, to have geological data in real time throughout the year, including wintering, and in various places on the island far from the Gabriel de Castilla base,” defends Astrain.
However, the researchers warn that these are the first results, although promising, and that they will install more thermoelectric generators in the next Antarctic Campaign. “If we demonstrate correct year-round operation in Antarctica, this technology could be extrapolated to many other volcanoes in the world, which will contribute to increasing the security of civil society, by improving remote volcanic surveillance with better and greater anticipation of volcanic eruptions,” they point out.
