Sweden-based marine energy technology developer Minesto has deployed its new Dragon 12 tidal power plant to the Faroe Islands. Operating like an underwater kite, Dragon 12 “harnesses the lift generated by tidal currents to fly patterns faster than the current and harvest renewable energy,” New Atlas reports. From the report: Whereas devices like Orbital's O2 tidal turbines are simply installed underwater, more or less harvesting energy from tidal currents, Minesto's Dragon series is anchored to the ocean floor and flies around like a kite, directing currents into the wind. Treat it as such. Just as wind-powered kites on land fly in a figure-eight pattern, accelerating faster than the wind, so do underwater dragons. According to Minesto, this allows the Dragon to draw more energy from certain tidal currents than other designs, and also changes the economic equation for the locations involved, making it worthwhile to take advantage of slower tidal currents. You can make it into something.
These are no small kites. The Dragon 12 must be disassembled to fit into a shipping container. He rocks an enormous body with a wingspan of 12 meters (39 feet) and weighs more than 28 tons. However, compared to other offshore power generation options such as wind turbines, this is quite a small boat and is very easy to install using one small boat and an undersea tether. As with any renewable energy project, the key number here is LCoE (Levelised Cost of Energy). So what will that cost be? Well, in 2017 Minesto predicted that his first 100 MW of capacity would be around USD 108/MWh once installed, but subsequent costs would be his will drop to $54/MWh.
The Dragon 12, like all tidal devices, is more effective in some locations than others. And Denmark's Faroe Islands, an archipelago in the cold North Atlantic between Scotland and Iceland, offer ideal conditions. Home to around 55,000 people and over a million puffins, the Faroe Islands are fed by tidal currents through numerous narrow channels. This greatly accelerates the water, increasing the energy that devices like Dragon 12 can collect. The first Dragon was deployed there and on Friday connected to the local power grid and began providing energy. You can watch the Dragon 12 video on YouTube.