'Deep Green' sea kites to soon revolutionise tidal power

Washington, May 10 (ANI): In the latest advance towards making renewable energy sources, a Swedish company has designed a sea kite named 'Deep Green'.

With its 12-meter (39-foot) wingspan and 100-meter (328-foot) cable tethering it to the ocean floor, the kites are small compared to other tidal energy designs, which, apparently is one of the big advantages to Deep Green.

The kite's small size lets its turbine operate at greater depths, where currents are slower, boldly going where no tidal turbine has gone before, reports Discovery News.

When anchored, Deep Green can be steered into a figure-eight like a sport kite, its turbine capturing tidal energy at ten times the speed of the actual stream velocity, according to Minesto, the Swedish developers of Deep Green.

When operational, one Deep Green sea kite is expected to generate 500 kilowatts of power.

However, it will be a few years before sea kites power your toaster.

Testing is scheduled to start in Northern Ireland in 2011.

And Minesto hopes to have a commercial model of Deep Green out in four years.

Tidal turbines' main drawback is their cost, but the predictability of the tides makes up for it. (ANI)