Minesto has announced that its Dragon 4 microgrid-scale power plant, upgraded with a new power-take-off system that improves energy production throughout the tidal flow cycle, has delivered record breaking electricity generation performance over the summer in Vestmannasund, in the Faroe Islands, and reduced system costs.
“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.
The tidal flows in Vestmanna have proven to be stronger than historically modelled and anticipated, creating additional potential for energy production. Combined with the hydrodynamic efficiency of Minesto’s second-generation kite technology, the Dragon Class, this meant that the original power-take-off system did not fully capitalise on the inherent potential. In response, Minesto’s engineers developed a more powerful PTO.
“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” commented Bernt Erik Westre, CTO at Minesto.
“The production performance is fully in line with our simulation models, validating our [claimed] ability to specify power plant configurations that maximise energy extraction at a given site,” commented Edlund.
