Minesto has placed an order for what presumably is the most characteristic part of the Deep Green system; the wing. Green Marine out of Southampton, UK has been chosen as supplier of Minesto’s first wing in commercial scale, which means 12 meter between the wing tips, and a center chord (wing depth) of 3.3 meter.
One of Green Marine’s core business is to build lightweight components in carbon fibre composites. In the manufacturing process of Minesto’s wing, the British outfit will be assisted by Gurit, leading global supplier of composite materials and engineering services. The wing will be made from composite material, with inner beams in carbon fibre and an outer shell in fiberglass. On the inside it is filled with a foam with room for dry ballast and an adjustable dynamic buoyancy system. On the outside, the wing is fitted with sensors to measure current velocity, kite speed and level of depth.
About the Deep Green project Minesto says: “Imagine that you are standing on a beach flying a kite in the wind, you feel a strong force from the kite in the rope and notice that the kite flies fast, way faster than the wind is blowing. If you would attach a turbine to the kite and put it in the ocean, where a water current flows instead of the wind blowing, you would have the concept of Deep Green, Minesto´s power plant. The secret behind Deep Green is that it reaches a speed 10 times higher than the water current, just like the kite flies faster than the wind. The speed has a cubic relationship to the power; ten times higher speed gives 1000 times more power”
Due to the unique characteristic of increasing the relative flow Deep Green is the most cost effective power plant on the market today.