The kite, which at full size will have a wingspan of 8-14 metres, carries a turbine below it. The kite is tethered by a cable to the sea floor and then "flies" in the tidal stream. It swoops round in a figure-of-eight shape to increase the speed of the water flowing through the turbine tenfold, just as sailing boat cuts across the wind to go faster.
That manoeuvre means the kite can generate renewable electricity in tidal streams that would be too slow to drive the first-generation tidal devices, such as the SeaGen turbine also installed in Strangford Loch. The kite has neutral buoyancy, so doesn't sink as the tide turns and the turbine mouth is protected to stop fish flying through.
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