The European Commission has selected Swedish ocean energy developer Minesto for a €20.2 million Innovation Fund grant for the company's planned 10 MW tidal kite array in Ireland.
Minesto now enters the Grant Agreement Preparation (GAP) phase for the grant that will cover 60% of the needed investment for the proposed Euro Dragon Farm.
The grant agreement will be signed with the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA), with the process expected to be finalized in the first quarter of 2027.
“Being selected for this 20.2 M EUR grant contribution to our latest project development opportunity, the Euro Dragon Farm, is the most significant commercial milestone in Minesto’s history so far. Our dragon technology competitiveness, attractiveness of the Dragon Farm investment case and our assessed project execution capability have been highly rated, resulting in Minesto being selected to spearhead the commercial build-out of Europe's tidal energy sector," said Martin Edlund, CEO of Minesto.
To be located in Irish coastal waters, Euro Dragon Farm is the EU's first Dragon Farm tidal energy project.
The grant is part of a wider funding support program, under which the European Commission selected 77 European net-zero technology projects to receive funding support worth €3.4 billion under the call launched in December 2025.
The Commission estimates that the projects have the potential to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, avoiding the equivalent of around 290 million tons over their first decade of operations. This corresponds to a rough reduction of one ton of CO2 per second for a decade.