Minesto Tidal Energy

[f0thu1nn]

The wing structure is slightly positively buoyant and at slack water it will hang above its pivot on the end of its power line.

In the same way as towline glider models get up fast in low wind speeds with large angles of attack, and beach power kites do high speed figures of 8 , the wing sustains its instability . It obeys a Strange Attractor.

The makers claim that currents as low as 2kts. will be ok. In fact,  excess currents do not suit. Jury`s out on whales though. 20kts is FAST

[peterkittel1]

This is not a kite it is a dive bomber. The cable and 12 metre structure moving at speed will devastate marine life. It is renewable energy but definetly not green or benign.The UK Carbon Trust gave them a major grant what were they thinking?

[p1t1o]

It is good that there are some really special people working to create imaginative ideas like this. Butschemes like these don't stand a snowflakes chance in hell of being able to supply any significant portion of our energy demands. Sure those kits look small and efficient, but it also looks like you're gonna need a freaking buttload of them to do anything useful, and that means complexity and cost will multiply, and you still wont get that many Watts out.

[scrubjay93]

Those lines are the worst design of all for marine mammal entanglement.

[guernafroman]

I cannot see how this kite / plane would stay suspended in areas aroundthe coasts when tides change. For instance in the british channel the tides have a 15 minite (ish) slack water window (ebb to flood ) would these not crash to the sea bed and need assistance to work again? also in rough or heavy seas would these not break the surface and loss momentum.

[macpics1974]

I like the idea

[soixantecroissants]

With a piece of wire spinning around like that in a figure of eight, the danger to sea-life would be my primary concern. I'm guessing that to hold onto the "deep-green" the wire would be pretty strong, and during fast currents I'm sure the device would create a large force. So it stands to reason that it could slice up sealife. Looks clever - not practicle!

[nbrader]

0:40-54 Why does he say speed and energy have a cubic relationship? Kinetic energy is proportional to velocity SQUARED which is a lot less than cubic. So 10 times speed is 100 times energy not 1000. Also it's more likely to LOSE energy at greater speeds so it's likely to be even less than that.

[gww1]

@nbrader He means the amount of energy passing through the turbine in any given time. Since the amount of water passing through the trubine per second also increases proportional to its speed, and the energy of that amount is proportional to the speed squared, overall the energy passing through the turbine is proportional to the speed cubed.

[mony09bony]

@nbrader absolutely right! I did not even study physics, but chemistry. Still I know that kinetic energy is not proportional to the cube of speed but to the square. They should do their homework first.

[RobRudolf1]

@mony09bony , you're the one who needs to do your homework. they were talking about power...and power = force (fluid dynamic forces increase by square of speed) x speed...... and speed^2 x speed = speed^3 ; )

[toli5805]

My main concern is the following:

Isn't the Deep Green a very easy target for the Great White!?

[ajlara79]

Really neat idea. My main doubts are:

1. Are underwater currents fast enough to move a kite with a 12 meter wing span? It obviously is intended for very specific parts of the world were currents are strong.

2. How about algae and barnicles? How are they to be avoided? Once algae tangles arounf the teather, performance is going to drop. This equipment will obviously require high maintenance.

[asemaany]

@ajlara79 chemically or electrically you can resist algae. The first concern is valid. In their demo, they seem to have an arm moving the Turbine, not the turbine move by the current itself. I am afraid if the current stops, the device lands on seabed and would never get up again.

[ilvmusic77]

This is amazing

if it was in the ocean would it disturb the animals?

[harryfmk]

I just couldn't imagine them being able to run for very long before cables or rudders or turbines break. It seems too dynamic and complicated to have any longevity, to be able to fly back and forth constantly in an ocean full of dolphins and sand and things...

[brockunc]

2. Is a matter of energy density. The volume of water needed for the flight path and cable seems significant for the energy captured. To produce significant energy we would have to allocate a large section of our coasts (the area with the highest impact).

I have a couple of ideas about how some of these things might be overcome but it seems it could be a hard sell with the current concept. Good luck

[negergreger666]

@brockunc

I think that the fact that it needs a large physical space for movement could be a positive thing in several ways, since the structure itself doesn't take up much space at any given time. However, it would make such areas unusable for fishing, particularly trawling, and woud therefore create a free zone for marine life, most of which is quite capable of avoiding these kind of rather slow moving objects.

I don't quite understand how the movement is maintained however?

[brockunc]

Great idea with good potential. The only problem I see is with real world implementation. It would obviously be scaled up to produce any real amount of energy. The problem I see is twofold.

1. There are ecological, transportation, and human conflicts with giant "underwater plains" with propellers and long cables flying around in coastal waters.

(cont)

[ian123412]

brilliant.