Irish company DesignPro Renewables has rescheduled the deployment of its device at the French testing site SEENEOH to accommodate additional improvements on the device expected to be completed before fall this year.
The company will now install the 25kW device at the site in the French city of Bordeaux in September 2018, as opposed to the previously planned installation that was set for March.
The extra time, according to design DesignPro, will be spent on the optimization of the device and deployment plans.
Vincent McCormack , Innovation Manager at DesignPro Renewables, said: “We had built in this window of time in the project to deploy at a later stage but it’s always good to be ambitious to keep momentum up.
“Having identified a number of areas that could be optimized and would ultimately improve the success and performance of the testing, we made a strategic decision to use this time effectively and implement these further improvements to the technology and the deployment site plans and set up.”
The company is carrying out the optimizations at the DesignPro facility in County Limerick, Ireland in conjunction with the Seeneoh team based in Bordeaux.
The turbine to be tested will be shipped to France at the end of July for further onsite work and assembly, DesignPro added.
“The final 3D design of the floating platform that will support the turbines is now completed and material supply has been launched. This week will be even more concrete with the starting of fabrication, cutting, welding within the naval workshop,” said Marlène Kiersnowski , SEENEOH Test Site Coordinator.
The 25kW machine will undergo extensive operational and environmental testing at the SEENEOH test site.
To remind, DesignPro Renewables secured funding for a €2.7 million Horizon 2020 SME Instrument project to develop and commercialize 25kW and 60kW hydrokinetic turbines for riverine and estuarine environments.