First Electricity to Grid with Minesto’s Tidal Powerplant Dragon 12

Minesto, leading ocean energy developer, today announces that a key milestone has been reached: The utility-scale tidal powerplant Dragon 12 - rated at 1.2 MW - has been successfully commissioned and, in the early morning of February 9, delivered its first electricity to the national grid in the Faroe Islands.

(Image credit: Minesto)

The Dragon 12 is Minesto’s first tidal energy kite in megawatt-scale. It has now been successfully commissioned and has generated electricity at satisfactory levels in its first phase of operation. The 12-meter wide and 28-ton heavy subsea kite, anchored with a tether to the seabed, is steered in an 8-shaped flight trajectory powered by the tidal flow. Dragon 12 is a 10- times scale-up (from the existing 100 kW Dragon 4) that delivers competitive performance and cost-levels for build-out of large-scale commercial subsea parks of tidal powerplants.

(Image credit: Minesto)

“This is a big day for Minesto. We have reached the most significant milestone in the history of the company by producing electricity to the grid with our mega-watt scale powerplant. We are both proud and happy and more than ever look forward to the journey ahead.”, said Dr. Martin Edlund, CEO of Minesto.

“What the Minesto team has achieved today is extraordinary and set a new agenda for renewable energy build-out in many areas of the world. The competitiveness of the Dragon 12 is straight to the point; it’s powerful, cost-effective and feeds predictable electricity to the grid.” said Dr Martin Edlund.

Videos of the Dragon 12 is available at Minesto’s youtube channel: Minesto - YouTube