Swedish tidal energy developer, Minesto, together with industry and academia partners, has been granted research funds totalling SEK 5.7 million ($666,000) by the Swedish Energy Agency.
The two projects that have received the funding are focused on the further development of Deep Green tidal technology with the purpose of optimising the first full-scale model.
Cost Efficiency of Marine Energy Converters project is a collaboration between Minesto, SSPA and Moorlink. It will focus on improvements to the mooring and rudder design, as well as on full-scale simulations, Minesto informed.
The project known as The Way of the Dragon: Optimisation of subsea power plants is a collaboration between Minesto, University of Gothenburg’s Department of Marine Sciences and Chalmers University of Technology.
The project will allow Minesto access to state of the art turbulence modelling, specifically designed for the company.
Heije Westberg , CTO of Minesto, said: “The Swedish Energy Agency’s decision to grant funds for these two projects is a clear sign of confidence in the potential of our technology and in Minesto’s ability to realise it. The knowledge that will be generated in the projects benefits us, our partners in the projects and hopefully the whole sector of marine energy.”
Minesto plans to install a 500kW Deep Green tidal power plant at the Holyhead Deep site off the coast of Anglesey, Wales, in 2017.