The 1 MWp pre-commercial demonstrator from the French company SolarinBlue will be deployed off the coast of Sète, two kilometers from the Mediterranean coast, and will supply the infrastructure of the port of Sète-Frontignan. The floats are designed to withstand waves of more than ten meters and winds of 200 km/h.
June 26, 2024 Gwénaëlle Deboutte
SolarinBlue, which develops offshore photovoltaic solar parks for difficult conditions (waves of more than ten meters, winds of 200 km/h), obtained funding of six million euros from the government as part of the France plan 2030. The money will be used to finance the construction of its first pre-commercial demonstrator, with a power of 1 MWp.
Deployed off the coast of Sète, two kilometers from the Mediterranean coast on the site of the former hydrocarbon unloading station at sea, the production of the “Méga Sète” park is estimated at more than 1,300 MWh. Electricity will be transported by submarine cable to power the infrastructure of the port of Sète-Frontignan, as part of its decarbonization strategy.
Led by a consortium between SolarinBlue, the engineering company Technip Energies and the universities of Montpellier and Sorbonne-Oceanological Observatory of Banyuls-Sur-Mer, “Méga Sète” should be commissioned in 2025 to replace the first Sun’Sète demonstrator , inaugurated in 2023 and which has a power of 300 kWp. Each float module, specially designed to withstand high seas and swell, is 12 meters long and wide and can accommodate 20 photovoltaic panels (for a power of approximately 10 kWp), installed at a height of 3, 5 meters so as not to be in contact with sea water.
“Méga Sète will be certified for waves of more than ten meters: our technology is ready to be distributed in ports, island territories and integrated into offshore wind farms,” assures Aurélien Croq, its general director. SolarinBlue’s technology aims to establish synergies with offshore wind farms, whether fixed or floating, to share the same connection and reduce investments. The objective is to launch the first European projects of 1 GW by 2030.
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