Gallery: Naval Energies lays first stone for tidal assembly plant

Naval Energies has laid the first stone for the Cherbourg tidal turbines assembly plant in the presence of the Normandy region’s officials.

The ceremony marks the official construction launch of the 5500 m2 tidal turbines assembly plant that will initially be able to produce 25 tidal turbines annually.

The assembly plant has been named Francis Beaufort, after an Irish hydrographer and officer in the Royal Navy.

This is said to be the first tidal turbine plant in the world, and its production capacity is expected to increase by up to 50 turbines per year following the planned expansion works.

The assembly plant will employ about 40 people, and is expected be operational in the first quarter of 2018.

Thierry Kalanquin, CEO of Naval Energies, said: “I am proud and impatient to see this plant rise out of the ground, which is the concrete realisation of a joint goal, shared with the region of Normandy and all the local authorities that have been supporting us for many years, to make Cherbourg the flagship of a tidal-turbine industrial sector, creating jobs and economic returns for the region.”

Built on 25 hectares of the Associated Normandy Ports-owned property, the facility will act as an industrial hub for the delivery of the 14MW Normandie Hydro tidal array project for EDF Energies Nouvelles.

(Photos: Naval Group/Naval Energies)