So how do sea kites look like? According to an artist’s rendition they should look like as seen in this picture above. The purpose? A Swedish company named Minesto is planning to harness tidal energy using Sea Kites attached to the ocean floor as another source of ‘renewable’ energy. The system is called the ‘Deep Green‘ technology and as the data goes, each underwater turbine is estimated to produce 500 kilowatts of electricity.

The kites would function 20m below water level so that navigation of vessels are not hampered. Each kite with a 3 foot long turbine with a 39-foot wingspan just needs a tidal push of  1.6 meters/second to be effective and is capable of moving at 10 times the speed of the water it is in, producing 1000 times more energy. As compared to wind energy, the tidal energy is considered to be opulent resulting in a generous amount of energy production which should balance off the cost required in its installation, maintenance and transmission of accumulated power. The Deep Green model will be put to assessment next year in Northern Ireland. For more information you could visit minesto.com.

[source : popsci.com , yahoo.com]