Paimpol-Bréhat tidal project, jointly developed by DCNS and EDF, could see the first OpenHydro’s tidal turbine installed next week.
DCNS, parent company of OpenHydro, planned to install the first of the two 500 kW OpenHydro’s tidal turbines in December 2015, but due to unsuitable weather conditions the deployment operation has been postponed.
Now, the company intends to install the turbine next week, weather permitting.
Tidal Energy Today spoke to DCNS’ press officer who said: “The first turbine of the Paimpol-Bréhat project could be deployed next week as there seem to be a favorable context in terms of both tidal coefficient and weather conditions. The deployment was not possible in December because of the weather conditions in Brittany.”
The construction of the first 16 m in diameter tidal turbine has been completed late in 2015. The turbine, equipped with its converter, has been positioned on the deployment barge and has undergone trials by being towed for several days at sea in order to simulate the conditions close to those found on the designated deployment location.
Parallel to this, the construction of the second turbine has been completed at DCNS’ facility in Cherbourg, with the final assembly set to take place in Brest.
The Paimpol-Bréhat demonstration project involves the installation of two OpenHydro’s tidal turbines with combined capacity of 1 MW, 16 km off the coast of Brittany, France, at the water depths of 35 m.
The project is expected to pave the way for the deployment of pre-commercial tidal farms and the development of a tidal energy industrial sector in France.
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