Rugged and remote, the Faroe Islands are an isolated archipelago found in the North Atlantic. Powerful currents flow around its 18 islands. In this sea channel called the Vestmanne Sun, mechanical creatures lurk beneath the water's surface called Dragons. Designed by Swedish Marine Energy Firm Minesto, it's among a wave of new technology that hopes to revolutionize tidal power.

This huge yellow thing behind me is a tidal kite. It looks a bit like a glider because it's designed to fly through the water. And once it's installed on the seabed, it will be generating electricity using the current that flows through this stretch of water.

Weighing 28 tons and with a 12-metre wingspan, the newest dragon can deliver 1.2 megawatts of power.

It's like kite surfing, but underwater. We tether it off to the sea floor, foundation on the sea floor, and then it flies in a figure of eight.

As underwater currents flow by, the kites wings generate a hydrodynamic lift force, spinning the turbine and generating electricity.

This design is very different to other types of tidal technology. So what's the advantage of a design like this one?

We can install and operate and produce power in low flow currents with lightweight machines. Although it looks big to the eyes, this is actually a very small tidal turbine. We've designed the system as such to be maintenance friendly and that you simply just hold them in, replace modules and then put them back in. We've also, over the years, removed more and more components from the system and fit them on shore instead. The less of components you have that can become damaged, it's easier to access it, and it's much cheaper also.

It's the gravitational pull of the moon, and to some extent, the sun, which gives the tides their rhythm. And unlike wind, solar, or hydro, tidal power isn't reliant on weather. While tidal barrages have been around for decades, their cost and the ecological impact has been a barrier. Now, from the Scottish Islands through to Canada, a new generation of tech firms have introduced tidal stream rain turbines.

Ocean energies is still largely untapped. What are the barriers that have prevented it from taking off?

It's a relatively small and new industry, so very few machines in the water, and then you have to compete with wind farms and solar PV, et cetera. We're now addressing a resource that's so much larger, so we're opening up a market that didn't even exist before.

If all goes to plan, there could be a raise of subsea kites around the Faroe Islands, installed in groups similar to wind farms.

This machine here, that's the first utility or the array device. There will be many of these in parts or arrays, as you call them, around the world.

The Faroes aren't connected to any other country's power grid, so it has to be self-sufficient. In the past, it relied heavily on oil imports. Now, though, it's going fully green. This battery station helps to regulate electricity supply.

We have the biggest battery, I think in the Danish Kingdom, we don't have any subsea cables to neighboring countries. We need to maintain the stability of the power system at all point in times on a millisecond level.

Much of the countries whose power will come from wind, hydro, and solar. But that's also where its experiment with tidal energy comes in.

It's predictable. We know exactly when it's there, 100 years ahead. If we install tidal turbines in different spots, we will have a baseload generation from tides. And that is extremely valuable. If we can unlock the potential, it can really dramatically change the energy mix in the islands. Maybe 30 to 40% of the annual usage in the islands could be provided by by tights.

Now this dragon has begun to fly and is sending energy to the grid. It's just one machine, but potentially a big leap forward for harnessing energy from our seas..