Underwater Ocean Kites To Harvest Tidal Energy

eldavojohn writes "A Swedish startup has acquired funding for beginning scale model trials of underwater kites, which would be secured to a turbine to harness tidal energy for power. The company reports that the kite device allows the attached turbine to harvest energy at 10 times the speed of the actual tidal current. With a 12-meter wingspan on the kite, the company says they could harvest 500 kilowatts while it's operational. This novel new design is one of many in which a startup or university hope to turn the ocean into a renewable energy source."

Comments

sweet

[gandhi_2]

now whales can enjoy the "renewable revolution" like migratory birds and bats do with windmills.

Another energy-diffuse, capital-intensive system

[Scareduck]

Like windmills, PV solar (and arguably, thermal solar), this will use a ton of capital (in multiple dimensions -- energetic, costs, and materials) to harvest very diffuse energy. The cries to subsidize installation -- and possibly operational -- costs will start almost immediately.