French tackle tidal grid

 
Three French companies and one university have joined forces in a collaborative project focused on solving grid stability issues associated with tidal power generation for off-grid areas.

French tidal energy developer Sabella, together with Entech and Blue Solutions, and the French naval academy Ecole Navale, will study and develop an energy storage system to smooth the power produced by a tidal turbine in a joint project named ULISS.EMR.

The project, financed by Quimper Bretagne Occidentale, Brittany Region and ERDF, is said to present a new and innovative answer to grid stability issues on off-grid locations.

ULISS.EMR will integrate modern systems, still untested with tidal energy and an insular grid, to increase the grid stability and the share of ocean energy being supplied to it.

The project will help reduce the dependency of off-grid locations on fossil fuels for power generation.

Sabella said it will provide real data acquired through its D10 tidal turbine sea trials for the project.

The French developer added it would also integrate the innovative system into its next generation turbines.