A unique renewable energy scheme involving underwater “kite-turbines” is being launched off the coast of north Wales.

 

As part of the £25m project, 20 turbines will be anchored off Anglesey and when fully operational should generate enough electricity to power 8,000 homes.

 

Initially 30 jobs will be created but if the system works well, the Swedish company behind it, Minesto, believes hundreds more could follow.

 

The Welsh government is keen to promote wave and tidal energy and find ways of bringing skilled jobs to places like Anglesey.

 

Minesto has been testing the kite turbine system in Strangford Loch in Northern Ireland. It has chosen for the permanent Welsh site a southern corner of a stretch of water called Holyhead Deep.

 

Weighing seven tonnes and operating at least 15 meters below the water surface, each kite carries a turbine below it. The kite is tethered by a cable to the sea floor and then “flies” in the tidal stream. It swoops round in a figure-of-eight shape to increase the speed of the water flowing through the turbine.

 

This means the kite can generate renewable electricity in tidal streams that would be too slow to drive the first-generation tidal devices, the company said.

 

The site has been chosen to maintain separation from shipping lanes and to minimize impact on other sea users.

 

 

PHOTO: An illustration showing how the kite-turbines would operate under the surface of sea water in Holyhead Deep, off the coast of north Wales.

CREDIT: Minesto.