Minesto unveils new range of power plants

Marine energy developer Minesto has introduced the Dragon Class range of power plants, an upgraded design of its Deep Green technology for predictable renewable electricity generation from tidal and ocean currents.

The Dragon Class will be delivered and installed in all of Minesto’s ongoing projects, as well as in the build-out of the company’s first array projects.

The company is in the procurement and manufacturing phase for five Dragon Class power plants for utility-scale 1.2 MW and smaller microgrid installations, which will be delivered and installed in Minesto’s current projects in France, Wales, and the Faroe Islands.

Using CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) modelling, ocean scale model testing and operational data from the grid-connected DG100 units in Vestmannasund, Minesto said its technology development team has been able to improve the energy conversion and refine the power plant by reducing the number of subsystems and components.

According to the company, innovations related to the upgraded design have resulted in new patent applications.

The Dragon Class will be available in different sizes and rated power tailored for maximum yield depending on site conditions such as water flow rate and depth.

“We are excited to announce this latest development of our unique technology. The Dragon Class evolves from the systems we have installed and operated in our Faroe Islands’ project. Its increased customer value is straight to the point – maximise yield and minimise costs. This is the backbone product for our ongoing commercial scale-up,” said Martin Edlund, Minesto CEO.

“The Dragon Class design results in significantly higher power production performance and by reducing the number of components we also decrease costs for manufacturing and assembly. In addition, it simplifies handling during installation and maintenance, which is crucial when we now scale up the technology to megawatt-sized power plants for commercial installations.”