SEENEOH secures €400K through French ‘investment arm’

SEENEOH tidal testing center has been backed by €400,000 through a repayable grant agreement signed with French public sector financial institution Caisse des Dépôts.

The agreement was signed on Wednesday, January 25, 2017, and represents a final step in completing the necessary financing for the project, estimated to amount to €3 million, according to the French financial newspaper La Tribune Bordeaux.

SEENEOH test site is located upstream Garonne river in Bordeaux in an area with suitable natural conditions for tidal testing, where currents above 1 m/s occur approximately 80% of the time.

It will feature three tidal testing berths suitable for devices with with either mounted or floating fixation type.

The construction of two berths has been completed in December 2016, while the assembly of the floating testing platform is currently ongoing.

Interested tidal energy developers will be able to test their devices at SEENEOH test site starting from next summer, La Tribune Bordeaux reports.

Each testing berth is connected to the onshore substation through an export cable, with a grid connection that has a total capacity of 250kW. The site is operated by Énergie de la Lune – an engineering firm specializing in marine renewable energy and ocean engineering.

Placed under Parliamentary supervision and guarantee, Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations and its subsidiaries constitute a public group serving the public interest and French economic development.