Minesto has commissioned its 1.2 MW, 25-ton Dragon 12 tidal energy kite, delivering the first electricity to the national grid in the Faroe Islands.
Dragon 12 was commissioned in the early morning of February 9 and, according to Minesto, it generated electricity at satisfactory levels in its first phase of operation.
Dragon 12, being 12 meters wide and 28 tons heavy, is anchored with a tether to the seabed and steered in an 8-shaped flight trajectory powered by the tidal flow. It is a 10-times scale-up from the existing 100 kW Dragon 4.
“This is a big day for Minesto. We have reached the most significant milestone in the history of the company by producing electricity to the grid with our mega-watt scale powerplant. We are both proud and happy and more than ever look forward to the journey ahead,” said Martin Edlund , CEO of Minesto.
“What the Minesto team has achieved today is extraordinary and set a new agenda for renewable energy build-out in many areas of the world. The competitiveness of the Dragon 12 is straight to the point; it’s powerful, cost-effective and feeds predictable electricity to the grid.”
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To remind, on February 8, 2024, the Swedish Energy Agency awarded Minesto with 2.8M SEK (approximately $267,000) to support the development and testing of a mooring system for ocean energy deployment.
The grant co-funds a project through which Minesto will advance the performance of the next-generation tether system that moors the powerplant to the seabed.