Underwater 'Dragons' Could Power Half of the Faroe Islands
A team of underwater "dragons" may help the Faroe Islands achieve its renewable energy goals.
A Swedish technology company, Minesto, has developed underwater kites that use ocean currents and the tides to create electricity. The kites, which the company calls "Dragon Class power plants," look like small planes that measure 5 meters wide.
But instead of flying through the air, the machines swim below the surface of the ocean, connected by 40-meter cables to the bottom of a strait in the northwest of the Faroe Islands.
While other tide-based power plants use technology similar to land-based wind plants, Minesto's Dragons use computer-controlled rudders to move in a figure-eight pattern, meaning they can move over a larger area at speeds even faster than the current, allowing them to produce even greater energy.
That energy is sent through cables to a control station near the town of Vestmanna, with each kite producing enough power for 50-70 homes, the BBC reports.
In November 2021, the government announced that two test kites in the strait provided their first energy to the Faroese power grid. According to Minesto CEO Martin Edlund, even larger Dragon Class kites will be placed in the strait in 2022, with the new ones being 12 meters wide and able to create even more power.
Speaking with the BBC, Edlund said he believes that a set of Dragon Class kites could produce enough electricity to power half the homes on the Faroes.
According to the government, more than 50% of electricity on the Faroe Islands already comes from renewable energy. And the Faroese electric company, SEV, has said that it aims to achieve 100% renewable electricity by 2030.
