Minesto sees slight decline in operating income, widens operating loss

Swedish tidal energy developer Minesto has reported a total operating income of almost SEK 45.6 million (around €4 million) for the 2023 financial year, a slight decline from SEK 45.7 million in 2022.

Minesto’s operating loss was almost SEK 28.7 million, as opposed to SEK 23.7 million reported for 2022 – a negative result said to be attributable to business development and administration related to technology development and includes costs such as personnel and consultants.

At the end of the year, capitalized development costs amounted to SEK 476.6 million, compared to SEK 377 million in 2022, in addition to capitalized patent expenses of SEK 16.3 million (15.3 million in 2022) within the intangible assets of SEK 492.9 million (392.4 million in 2022).

According to Minesto, grants of up to SEK 23.2 million were accrued during the year, of which SEK 20 million reduced the acquisition value of the capitalized development costs.

During the year, payments of SEK 43.6 million were received from public funding schemes, of which SEK 42.4 million relates to approved claims and the remainder relates to advances.

In terms of recent activities from the company, Minesto in the early morning of February 9 commissioned the tidal powerplant Dragon 12 – rated at 1.2 MW, generating the first electricity to the national grid in the Faroe Islands.

The Dragon 12 functionality was verified after the first two weeks of testing, Minesto reported, stating that this means that the technology risks of scale-up have been significantly reduced.

“The megawatt-scale Dragon 12 powerplant now producing electricity to the Faroese grid, shows the way for the global exploitation of tidal and ocean currents as a renewable natural resource, in many parts of the world. For Minesto, the Dragon 12 is highly valuable to showcase electricity production from a full-scale powerplant, in attracting both private and public financing of the first larger customer projects – arrays of underwater kites,” said Martin Edlund, Minesto’s CEO.

“The Dragon Class powerplants have delivered all functionality and at satisfactory performance and so form a basis for buildout in commercial sites. We now have a full-scale production site in operation, which demonstrates our unique technology to utility customers and site investors.”

According to Edlund, the potential funding for Minesto’s technology in the coming years is around €90–120 million.

“It is very positive to see the growing understanding and increasing support for innovative energy technology. Ocean energy is now depicted in growth forecasts connected to the global energy transition outlined in IRENA and IEA reports,” Edlund said.

“At one of these recent occasions, the IEA’s (International Energy Agency) Innovation Forum, in Paris, it was stated that innovation is needed as soon as possible, but also good to see that the world is now acting powerfully to drive the transition.”