Minesto initiates DG500 commissioning program

Marine energy developer Minesto has initiated the commissioning program of its first tidal energy project in commercial scale in North West Wales, with initial sea trials of the company’s DG500 tidal energy converter taking place in Holyhead harbour and the Holyhead Deep site.

“The activities in Holyhead are progressing well and we are pleased to have moved on to the commissioning phase of the DG500 project”, said Minesto’s Chief Operating Officer David Collier. “The commissioning vessels are chartered, and the kite is in the water. We are now performing some initial commissioning steps both in Holyhead harbour and at the Holyhead Deep site, and then we will proceed with further kite operations in Holyhead Deep.”

As communicated earlier, the DG500 commissioning program consists of two main phases. First system functionality tests will be performed, before moving on to electricity generation.

The first phase of the commission program itself comprises a series of tests over different stages, including verification of launch and recovery procedures, testing of each function of the control system, and finally operating the DG500 unit in full figure-of-eight trajectories.