Imagine flying a kite in the wind, feeling the strong lift force from the kite in the rope as the wind tries to carry the kite away. Moving the kite sideways, it flies fast — way faster than the wind is blowing. If a turbine would have been attached to the kite and put in the ocean, where a water current flows instead of the wind blowing, you would have the concept of Minesto’s patented and awarded marine energy technology called Deep Green.
Founded in 2007, Minesto now has operations in Sweden, the Faroe Islands, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Taiwan. The Swedish marine energy technology company has received more than €40 million of funding from the European Regional Development Fund through partners and is the European Union’s largest investment in marine energy to date. The company is now a leading ocean energy developer and the mentioned award-winning and patented product, Deep Green, is the only verified marine power plant that operates cost-efficiently in areas with low-flow tidal streams and ocean currents.
Minesto has now completed additional offshore infrastructure installation in Vestmannasund, Faroe Islands, to double electricity production from two Dragon 4 (100kW) tidal energy power plants in an array set-up. A second foundation, subsea cable, and onshore interface have been successfully installed, and the subsea infrastructure is ready for a second kite installation and electricity production. The installations have been carried out with small vessels to further reduce costs of installation and marine operations for large-scale build-out and the seasonal operating window for infrastructure installation has also been extended by conducting these operations in winter.
— By doubling production capacity, we significantly increase the value of the Vestmanna site. We can showcase our technology to a greater extent as we generate more production data, optimize features in an array configuration, and of course, deliver more electricity to grid as committed to our utility partner SEV, says Dr Martin Edlund, CEO.
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