It was true synergy at the 5th Steering Committee Meeting of the ambitious ENCORE project hosted by Bluespring in Le Havre. To show the impact of how 4 technologies are energizing coastal regions with offshore renewable energy a new video was launched. The meeting conveniently coincided with the Seanergy exhibition and conference and was held on June the 16th – 17th in Le Havre. The possibilities of offshore energy are promising in so many ways.
This sixth edition of Seanergy brought together over 3000 players from the offshore renewable energy sector, working on offshore and floating wind power, tidal energy, wave power, ocean thermal energy, and floating photovoltaics.
Le Havre harbors inspiration for offshore energy
Normandy is experiencing a strong rise in offshore wind developments, with the opening of the new Siemens-Gamesa factories in Le Havre and the start of construction of the future Fécamp offshore wind farm, for which Cherbourg serves as a logistical hub, and where regional industrialists such as CMN are preparing tidal power projects to be deployed off the Normandy coast in the Raz Blanchard.
ENCORE Regional Impact Campaign
As part of a series of regional impact campaigns in France, Belgium, Netherlands, and the UK, the ENCORE project launched a brand-new video at the NL lounge kindly hosted by NBSO.
Video and poster presentation with Reinier Rijke from Water2Energy, Peter Scheijgrond from Bluespring, Johnny Meit from Oceans of Energy, Dirk Hoet and Efrain Carpintero Moreno from Ghent University, Anne Levasseur from Artelia and Franck Sylvain from EEL-Energy
ENCORE partners also joined the NBSO networking diner, which gave an insight into the booming business opportunities for the Dutch offshore supply chain. Water2Energy and Oceans of Energy had poster presentations on display on the exhibition floor. During the networking opportunities partners were able to catch up with ENCORE observers IFREMER, Pole Mer Bretagne Atlantique, Navingo, and ORE Catapult among others.
French Tidal stream energy potential
France has a tidal stream energy potential of 4 gigawatts (GW): a volume equivalent to four nuclear reactors. There two most powerful currents are the Raz Blanchard at the tip of the Cherbourg peninsula and the Fromveur near Ushant Island. The world's potential is estimated to be around 500GW and remains untapped.
Previews of the Sabella and Hydroquest tidal stream turbines and the GEPS wave energy convertor
Off the coast of Ushant, Sabella has been operating a tidal turbine, weighted down by three feet, for two years at a depth of 35 meters, with blades that are shorter and turn slower than those on a wind turbine. Sabella is now preparing to deploy two machines in the energetic tides of the Gulf of Morbihan, a sensitive site, where environmental and fish impact studies are underway.
World record for Normandy?
A major step for the sector: two pilot farms are announced in the Raz Blanchard. As part of the Flowatt project, Grenoble-based company HydroQuest, working closely with the renewable energy producer Qair, will install seven machines from 2025, totaling 17.5 MW of installed capacity. When completed, it will be the most powerful tidal stream farm in the world. Hydroquest boasts an unusual turbine design of 4 vertical axis shaft-less turbines (i.e. no central axis) mounted on a gravity-based frame.
Meanwhile, in the same place, four other turbines will be installed in 2024 by Simec Atlantis, who have their horizontal axis tidal turbine operating in the Pentland firth and in Japan.
Integrated coastal protection and wave energy generation.
The Legendre Group and partners IFREMER and GEPS TECHNO are developing the DIKWE concept: a modular wave energy convertor, using oscillating flaps that can be fully integrated with a breakwater.
As such the modules offer coastal protection and local energy at the same time. A small 3D model was shown at the exhibition, while the demonstrator will be unveiled later this month at the IFREMER open-water test site near Brest.
ENCORE Steering Committee Meeting
The goal of the 5th ENCORE Steering Committee Meeting (SCM) in Le Havre was to meet and discuss the progress to date and look ahead on deliverables still to be completed. The partnership made tremendous progress in realizing four operational pilots. During the design, construction, installation, and test phases, the IEC TC114 technical specifications have been used as much as possible with support from service providers in the partnership. Where there are shortcomings or limitations, the partnership makes recommendations for future improvements to the technical specification. We also started planning our Final Conference later this year, where we will share our main achievements.
Above all, Le Havre was a great occasion to meet each other in person and reconnect over the course of 4 days.
Seanergy 2023 will be held in Paris on 22-23th June!
ENCORE Partnership: Stijn Timmers (Deftiq), Laura Colomer (Oceans of Energy), Luc Hamilton and Fred Gardner (Teamwork Technology), Efrain Carpintero and Dirk Hoet (University of Gent), Johnny Meit (Oceans of Energy), Peter Scheijgrond (Bluespring), Reinier Rijke (Water2Energy), Anne Levasseur (Artelia), Pim den Hartog (Deftiq), Ewa Spiesz (DMEC), Franck Sylvain (EEL-Energy), Nithian Vejayan (EMEC).
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