HydroQuest eyes African market

HydroQuest, a French-based hydrokinetic turbines developer, has accompanied the French president Francois Hollande on a three-day tour in Africa whose aim was to accelerate the development of economic collaboration between African countries and France.

During the African tour, the French representatives visited Benin, Angola and Cameroon.

The visit to Angola resulted in the singing of several letters of intent, including the one involving HydroQuest and Angola’s LTP Energy, for the supply of 300 turbines to produce electricity through a consortium that will negotiate the purchase directly with the Angolan Ministry of Energy and Water, Macauhub reports.

“The concept is tested on the Loire, but has not been designed to produce electricity there. The countries of Africa and South America will benefit from this technology,” Jean-François Simon, CEO of HydroQuest, was quoted as saying by Le petite Solognot, a news publisher based in the French Sologne region.

HydroQuest has launched two river turbine models, 40 kW and 80 kW in capacity each.

HydroQuest’s turbines use crossflow double vertical axis technology, and their implementation and maintenance is facilitated through the fixing to a floating barge anchored by underwater cables and liftable turbine columns.

The company deployed a HydroQuest River 1.40 turbine in Loire river, Orléans, earlier this year, and the electricity produced from this turbine is expected to power 60 homes.

Image: HydroQuest