48-Hour Tidal Turbine Turnaround & Offshore Redeployment Validated

Minesto has completed a full service intervention and offshore redeployment of an upgraded Dragon 4 tidal power plant within 48 hours in Vestmannasund, Faroe Islands.

The operation represents the company’s fastest turnaround to date, executed during a low-production tidal window to limit the impact on overall energy yield. The work scope encompassed offshore recovery of the power plant, extraction of the nacelle for an inspection of the upgraded generator following its initial 10 weeks of operation, routine maintenance activities, reassembly, quality and functional verifications, and subsequent redeployment to the seabed.

Martin Edlund, CEO of Minesto, commented, “The ability to complete a full service operation and return the system to power production in only 48 hours demonstrates a key competitive advantage of our technology. High performance is important, but equally important is the ability to maintain the system cost efficiently. Notably, our method does not rely on sophisticated and expensive infrastructure, making it suitable for remote locations and areas of the world without port infrastructure and access to advanced marine engineering capabilities.

“For emerging technologies, progress is built through experience. Every launch, recovery and maintenance campaign helps us improve the system further. Our technology is fundamentally different from conventional stationary tidal turbines, and it is therefore essential to demonstrate performance, reliability and maintainability through repeated real-world operations. With every campaign completed, we strengthen the evidence supporting the commercial readiness of Dragon technology.”

Unlike conventional offshore energy assets that demand specialized port infrastructure, heavy-lift vessels, and extended operational downtime, the Dragon platform is engineered around rapid launch, recovery, and replacement cycles. Central to this strategy is modular subsystem exchange: by replacing components such as the nacelle with spare modules during brief weather or tidal windows, complex inspections, repairs, and technological upgrades can be conducted onshore without causing prolonged disruption to energy output.

Bernt Erik Westre, CTO of Minesto, stated, “The successful turnaround demonstrates both the maturity of the Dragon Technology and the efficiency of our operational procedures. Through long-term cooperation with our local contractor SJH Offshore, we have progressively refined our methods through repeated campaigns, and today we can perform advanced service interventions while keeping downtime to a minimum. This capability becomes increasingly valuable as we move towards larger commercial deployments and multi-unit installations.”

The milestone follows continuous operational development since 2020, during which Minesto has deployed, operated, and maintained tidal installations in open-water environments. The repeated marine operations have driven iterative updates across hardware, installation tooling, control systems, and logistical frameworks, targeting risk reduction and reduced operational expenditure for future commercial-scale arrays.