Deep Dive: How do Minesto’s underwater “flying dragons” produce power? | We Don't Have Time

Harnessing the power of ocean tides has never been done on a large scale before. Through Minesto’s unique, patented technology, the company has found a way to amplify and utilize the energy in tidal streams, making it a reliable and clean baseload energy source. But how do these underwater flying dragons provide power for our homes and offices? Let’s do a literal and figurative deep dive into the workings of Minesto’s aquatic mobile power plants. Imagine flying a kite. When the wind blows, you can feel the kite twisting and turning out of control, nearly pulling you off your feet. This is the power that Minesto’s technology harnesses. By mounting kite-like power plants underwater on tethers that steer them in a predetermined figure-of-eight trajectory, the kite can be pulled through currents several times faster than the stream’s actual speed. The kites are built so that each kite is a power plant in its own right, connected to the seabed through the tether. The kites are moved through the water by tidal currents, and this motion powers a turbine on the back of the kite. The turbine turns a generator which generates electricity to the grid via a power cable that runs through the tether and a seabed umbilical cord connected to the shore. Tidal energy is a vast, untapped source of renewable power that hasn’t been able to be utilized before. Traditional tidal power plants face the issue of not producing enough energy for the high implementation cost, and engineers worldwide have been working to optimize tidal energy generators for decades. The secret of the Minesto technology is that the power plant is moving rather than being stationary. To maintain maximum energy generation, an onboard control system turns rudders and elevators on the back of the kite, steering the kite in a figure-of-eight trajectory to increase the speed of the current that it is pulled through. Since the speed of the stream has a cubic relationship with the power produced, the motion of the “kite” increases energy production exponentially. Having developed this technology since 2007, Minesto is preparing to open its first large-scale underwater power production park in the Faroe Islands. Stay tuned to this profile to learn more about this soon! If you want to know more about Minesto’s technology, you can read more on the website: https://minesto.com/our-technology/