Minesto reinforces tidal energy patent portfolio

Swedish marine energy developer Minesto has enhanced and extended its intellectual property (IP) protection with the approval of a new patent related to its core tidal energy technology.

The approved patent relates to a technical innovation Minesto developed and verified in its tidal energy project in the Faroe Islands, the company said.

Among other things, the solution provides greater flexibility for the installation of Minesto’s tidal kite systems at different sea depths.

Martin Edlund, CEO of Minesto, said: “We continue to strengthen and extend the protection of our intellectual property and the industrial value linked to Minesto’s technology. Our IP strategy is as simple as it is effective: we systematically extend the protection of the core technology by ‘shielding’ the main patent with complementary patents related to supporting subsystems and offshore processes. Through this, we create significant commercial value for Minesto and its shareholders”.

The approval of the new patent means that the patent protection surrounding Minesto’s ocean energy technology called Deep Green now consists of 11 patent families.

In total, Minesto now has 92 approved patents, making the company’s patent portfolio one of the strongest – if not the strongest – in the industry, according to the company.

“Our strong IP protection creates competitive advantage and a foundation for revenue opportunities from product sales, sale of services, and geographical licensing”, added Edlund.

As reported earlier this week, Minesto made significant progress on the optimisation of its DG100 tidal power plant in Faroe Islands, which has delivered grid-compliant electricity at new record levels.

Moving ahead, Minesto said it would work with two DG100 systems in parallel in Faroe Islands to perform a wide range of production and optimisation runs.