Eindhoven company's floating bridge to generate power for 500 thousand Indonesians

Eindhoven company Tidal Bridge and construction company Strukton are working on a bridge between the east-Indonesian islands of Flores and Adonara that will change the lives of half a million people living on the islands. The 800 meter long floating bridge is equipped with turbines underneath that will generate a steady supply of electricity to the islands, Eindhovens Dagblad reports.

This week Tidal Bridge closed a 200 million euros contract for the first phase of construction, founder Eric van den Eijnden said to the newspaper. This agreement is the first in the context of Dutch-Indonesian cooperation in the field of water management. The central government in Indonesia is the client.

Many Indonesian islands, including Flores and Adonara, still don't have electricity. Van den Eijnden is excited about what a difference the floating bridge will make to the lives of the people living on these islands. "With electricity, the fishing industry can develop for example. Now they can't export their fish because they can't cool them. And Flores is a paradise island that can attract many tourists. That we can really help people with this bridge, makes it really beautiful." he said to ED.

The floating bridge is a more cost-effective alternative for turbines by a French company in which Van den Eijnden invested. Instead of loose turbines floating on catamarans, he designed a platform that can double as a bridge, with the turbines underneath. The turbines generate power using the ebb and flow of the water.

Tidal Bridge designed the floating turbine bridge with Strukton, which previously built a bridge equipped with power generating turbines in the Oosterschedekering. The difference between this floating bridge and Strukton's previous bridge is that the new one can generate more energy. The new bridge will be fixed in place with anchors strong enough to hold both the weight of the bridge and the force of large turbines. According to Van den Eijnden, this bridge will be able to generate a projected 110 megawatts per hour, about the same amount of energy required to power the entire city of Eindhoven.