Minesto, a Swedish company linked to the Saab group, was carrying out tests using a turbine kite that was supposed to produce energy through the movement of the wind, but the engineers, however, thought it well to put it under water and exploit the kinetic energy of the currents. So Deep Green Principle was born.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
Un kite underwater actually it doesn't sound too good, but apparently we are facing a new instrument capable of convert the kinetic energy of the tides into electricity, in an extremely optimal way and made in a completely random way. Let's start from the beginning. There Minnesota, a Swedish company linked to the Saab group, was carrying out tests using a turbine kite that was supposed to produce energy through the movement of the wind (a bit like in the kitegen project we have already told you about). The group of engineers, involved in these studies, however, thought well that if the device had been put into the sea (the water is 832 times denser than air) the result in terms of energy production could have been much more efficient. Having deduced this, the kite has been modified enough to be able to acquire greater ductility within the marine context. He was born then Deep Green Principle.
Deep Green Principle it consists of a single 12-meter wing and an underlying turbine - with a shape vaguely reminiscent of the first monoplane aircraft - and is connected to the seabed by an attack. The hydrodynamic forces determined by the speed of the currents move the kit which, thanks to a control system, executes a predetermined rotational trajectory, in such a way as to optimize the energy conversion. Each unit has a power rating of 0,5 MW and, given the small size compared to other marine plants or prototypes, it does not require massive foundations. A lightening that also affects the estimated cost in 0.06-0.14 euro your kWh.
According to Minesto, there would be all the conditions for an incredible invention capable of revolutionizing the concept of energy saving: “The new technology - explains one of the engineers behind the discovery - will contribute to a substantial increase in the potential of the marine source, with its ability to extract energy from areas where other technologies are less efficient". Furthermore, in just three weeks of use the underwater kite will already have been able to recover all the energy spent to make it, as opposed to its use in the air where the time would amount to about 8 months. Each kite has a potential of 500 kW. Each kilowatt hour is produced at a cost of $ 0,09-0,20 ($ 0,06-0,14).
The only "flaw" of this innovative technology, however, lies in the potential use of the exploitation: such a system would have such positive effects only in sea beds similar to those of Britain, where currents are equal to 1-2 meters per second at a depth of 6-120 meters. Precisely for this reason one of the main realities that has been interested in the project is, in fact, that of British Ministry of Energy. It is estimated that a complete system of submarine kites can produce 18 terawatt hours per year, which is enough to insure energy to nearly 4 million homes in Great Britain.
Although territorially limited, Deep Green Principle still represents a great possibility, made even more captivating by its own greater reliability: tides and all sea movements can in fact be calculated with an accuracy close to 100%.
Alessandro Ribaldi
