French Agency for Environment and Energy Management (ADEME) has provided funding to Guinard Energies to further advance its tidal turbine installation system.
The French tidal energy start-up Guinard Energies received support for the development of an innovative solution for installation and maintenance of equipment on the seabed.
The system, part of the Système de Pose Innovante d’Hydrolienne (Spidhy) project, is made of a self-buoyant base foundation.
The two parts of the system can be filled with either water or air, for the installation or removal phases, according to Guinard Energies.
The aim of the project is to develop a competitive solution for the immersion of heavy structures on the seabed to reduce the overall costs associated with marine renewable energy.
Gunard Energies said the system was already tested at 1:16 scale at IFREMER basin in 2015, and will be used for the 250kW Guinard Energies tidal device, planned for installation early in 2018 in southern Brittany.
The total cost of the Spidhy project is estimated to be around €820,000, while ADEME’s contribution through its Investments for the future program amounts to €205,000.