Two ocean energy research and development projects will be tested off France at the marine renewables test site SEM-REV as part of the EU-backed FORESEA program.
SEM-REV test site, launched in 2015, and located 30 km off the city of Le Croisic on the French Atlantic coast, is one of the four test sites participating in the FORESEA initiative that provides funding support to ocean energy technology developers to access Europe’s leading ocean energy test facilities.
Under the first FORESEA call, 10 ocean energy developers have been selected to demonstrate their technologies, with two companies, Geps Techno, and Pytheas Technology, set to test their technologies at SEM-REV.
Geps Techno will install its wave energy prototype as part of the IHES project. The 18 metre-wide and 7 metre-high Geps Techno’s autonomous platform will produce 100kW from its stabilizers and will be able to store 600 kWh thanks to a hybrid system, according to the regional development agency of Pays de la Loire.
The aim is to validate the performance of wave energy technology and allow Geps Techno to develop one of the technological bricks in its ambitious M-Liner project which combines several sources of renewable energy including solar, wind, wave and tidal, into a single platform to provide electricity to islands, isolated areas and sites at sea.
“FORESEA is a unique opportunity for Geps Techno,” said Jean-Luc Longeroche , General Manager of the Geps Techno. “This support will enable us to accelerate the development of our technology at sea, with a reasonable budget for a SME.”
The second project to be hosted on SEM-REV is that of Pytheas Technology which aims to develop an innovative piezoelectric generator for the application in the marine renewable energy sector.
Aside from the projects under the FORESEA initiative, SEM-REV will also serve as a testing ground for the floating offshore wind turbine as part of the Floatgen project, expected to be deployed in spring next year.
To remind, the second call for FORESEA program applications has been launched in November, and it will be open until February 28, 2017.