Minesto’s tidal energy power plant sets electricity production record over summer

“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,” commented 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 enhanced 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 engineering team developed a more powerful PTO.

This upgraded PTO system has demonstrated improved energy production throughout all tidal flow cycles while simultaneously reducing system costs.

The graph is a power production graph comparing daily energy production from the Dragon 4 power plant before and after the upgrade.

“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 2Q26 and 3Q26, the only hardware difference is the PTO,” said Bernt Erik Westre, CTO at Minesto.

“With the results from this upgrade, we claim to have demonstrated the most efficient tidal energy power plant in the world in terms of energy conversion performance, proven over several months of production. The production performance is fully in line with our simulation models, further validating our ability to specify power plant configurations that maximise energy extraction at a given site,” added Martin Edlund.

“The know-how and technology we have built over the years in integrating a power-take-off system into our unique Dragon systems has been hard-earned. The demanding and dynamic operating conditions created by tidal cycles and ocean environments make this expertise truly unique. With this new proven performance level, the commercial value of our intellectual property related to Dragon hardware and software has multiplied over the summer,” Edlund concluded.

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Read the article online at: https://www.energyglobal.com/other-renewables/11082026/minestos-tidal-energy-power-plant-sets-electricity-production-record-over-summer/