“We have now demonstrated what we believe to be the most efficient tidal energy power plant in the world in terms of energy conversion performance. This is proven through continuous production over several months,” said Dr. Martin Edlund, CEO of Minesto.
Minesto’s microgrid-scale power plant Dragon 4 has generated record-breaking electricity production over the summer in Vestmannasund, Faroe Islands.
The tidal flows in Vestmanna have proven to be stronger than historically modeled and anticipated, creating additional potential for energy production. Combined with the enhanced hydrodynamic efficiency of Minesto’s second-generation kite technology, the Dragon Class, this meant that the original power-take-off system did not fully capitalize on the inherent potential. In response, Minesto’s engineering team developed a more powerful PTO.
This upgraded PTO system has successfully demonstrated improved energy production throughout all tidal flow cycles while simultaneously reducing system costs.
“The published power production data illustrates stable generation that closely follows the intensity of the tidal currents in Vestmanna at the production site. We can clearly see that the upgraded Dragon 4 captures energy in proportion to the predicted available resource. Both curves are produced by our Dragon 4 ‘Saga’ in Q2 and Q3 this year; the only hardware difference is the PTO,” said Bernt Erik Westre, CTO at Minesto.
“With the results from this upgrade, we claim to have demonstrated the most efficient tidal energy power plant in the world in terms of energy conversion performance, proven over several months of production. The production performance is fully in line with our simulation models, further validating our ability to specify power plant configurations that maximize energy extraction at a given site,” said Martin Edlund.
“The know-how and technology we have built over the years in integrating a power-take-off system into our unique Dragon systems has been hard-earned. The demanding and dynamic operating conditions created by tidal cycles and ocean environments make this expertise truly unique. With this new proven performance level, the commercial value of our intellectual property related to Dragon hardware and software has multiplied over the summer,” Martin Edlund concluded.
