Minesto gets funds to develop innovative tidal project

Deep Green project kites

Minesto, a Swedish developer of tidal energy projects, is set to develop a 25-million-pounds installation off the coast of Holyhead. Named ‘Deep Green’, it would use moving underwater “kites” to harness tidal power, BBC has reported.

The company has reported in a statement issued on Wednesday that Eurpoean Regional Development Fund, through the Welsh government, has awarded it 13 million euros for commercial roll out of the project.

The funding would cover establishment of Minesto UK Headquarters in North Wales and commissioning of the first commercial Deep Green power plant.

Conceptual-illustration-of-Deep-Green-ocean-current-array
Conceptual illustration of Deep Green ocean current array. Source: minesto.com

Minesto plans to use 9.5 million pounds from the EU funding on Deep Green development. The balance funding required for project is to be garnered from private investors. And the first seven-ton kite is expected to be installed in another two years.

The BBC has stated that the first commercial scale installation will be of 0.5 MW capacity and additional deployments will take the total capacity of the project to 10 MW. The plant is expected to go into full-capacity production in 2019.

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The power produced by the facility would be adequate to power the equivalent of 8,000 households.

According to the BBC report, the kites can move at 10 times the speed of ocean currents making them capable of generating about 1,000 times more power than conventional devices. The kites are to be deployed 15 metres below the surface of the sea.

The government of Wales has studied the feasibility of Deep Green for several years working with Minesto.

A BBC analyst says it could be a new industry in its own right and may not make economic sense initially when it supplies power at 250 pounds per megawatt hour.

But Minesto believes the industry will develop in due course to be able to produce electricity at charges under 100 pounds per megawatt hour — lower than power from nuclear projects and without hazardous waste.

A tidal lagoon project for Swansea Bay was expected to charge 168 pounds per megawatt hour for the power it would produce.

Ajith Kumar S

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