EEL Energy gets green light to deploy biomimetic tidal energy turbines in France

Business Developments & Projects

May 22, 2023, by Amir Garanovic

EEL Energy has secured a permit from the French navigation authority Voies navigables de France (VNF) to deploy its tidal energy turbine in the river Rhône near Lyon, that will later be accompanied with three additional devices.

Illustration/EEL Energy’s scaled tidal energy converter (Courtesy of EEL Energy)

The VNF has authorized EEL Energy to test its tidal energy turbine, whose design is based on the undulating membrane which mimics the movement of the fish to produce energy, starting from the second half of 2023.

The tests will be conducted at a dedicated site between Lyon’s communes of Caluire-et-Cuire and Villeurbanne, with the first device expected to be deployed by the end of June 2023.

With the authorization from VNF and the agreement with the local authorities (the Metropolis of Lyon and the commune of Caluire-et-Cuire), EEL Energy will gradually deploy four biomimetic tidal turbines to form an in-river tidal energy farm.

The first device will be assembled at the Port of Lyon and transported by river to its deployment site. After that, EEL Energy expect to install three additional turbines by the end of the year.

As the connection infrastructure already exists, there are no civil engineering works in plans associated with the deployment, VNF noted.

The main goal of the project is to carry out full-scale technical tests of these new types of tidal turbines before considering deployment in the long term on other river sites, but also marine energy sites in France or in developing countries.

The electricity produced from the project, which will be injected into the French power grid, is expected to amount to 400MWh – the equivalent of the consumption of 100 households.

Cécile Avezard, regional director of VNF, said: “To innovate is to experiment! We are happy to support EEL Energy in an approach that allows our network of waterways in France to contribute to the production of green electricity and thus respond, in a concrete way, to the challenges of the energy transition.”

Franck Sylvain, CEO of EEL Energy, added: “We thank VNF and the communities for their support. This first step marks the start of commercial activity for our river turbines, with a nominal power of 50kW to 100kW, and signals the launch of marine energy turbines with a power of 750kW within the next three years.”