The Minesto Dragon System technology produces 100% predictable electricity from low flow ocean currents and tides. Minesto’s technology has a unique and patented operating principle, which is like a stunt kite flying in the wind... but underwater! The Dragon kite consist of the composite wing containing a turbine, generator, gearbox and the control system, two separate steering modules containing a rudder and an elevator, and a tether which is used to attach the kite to the seabed and to transmit the electricity to shore, via the foundation.

The wing uses the hydrodynamic lift force created by the underwater current to move the kite. With an onboard control system, the kite is autonomously steered in a predetermined figure-of-eight trajectory, which pulls the kite across the flow creating a water flow over the kite several times higher than the actual tidal stream speed. Since the turbine inflow speed has a cubic relationship to the power production, this allows a much more compact turbine and hence an overall kite system to be used, compared with an equivalent horizontal axis tidal turbine at similar power levels.

The Dragon kite technology is made up of several key components which have been developed since 2007. The first full scale version of the kite was tested offshore Holyhead, North Wales in 2018/19. Since then, smaller 2nd and 3rd generation kites, now known as Dragons, have been tested, connected to the grid, in the Faroe Islands. Last year a 1.2MW rated version known as the Dragon 12, was also deployed in the Faroe Islands and has been operating this year.

The presentation will describe the Dragon system, how it is deployed and recovered with relatively small vessels, and its operating principles.