While awaiting the launch of a possible commercial call for tenders in France, probably located in Raz-Blanchard, off the coast of Cotentin, investors remain cautious about the tidal energy market. And for good reason: the absence of a clear legal framework for the development and financing of this marine renewable energy sector has led to the abandonment of several projects in recent years, as well as the disappearance of innovative companies.
Marine energies: the government is giving tidal energy a little chance
The Brest SME, Sabella, whose judicial liquidation was declared in January 2024, is one of them. If these teams are now developing their expertise at Entech, a technological SME specializing in the storage and intelligent management of renewable energies, its D10 tidal turbine is still the only French machine in operation.
With a power of one megawatt, it has been supplying up to 250 kW of clean electricity to the island of Ouessant since April 2022, thanks to the Fromveur current.
Largely subsidized project
Emblematic project having benefited from considerable public support (in exchange for electricity) and intended to decarbonize an island not connected to the electricity network and voracious in diesel generator consumption, this demonstrator was preserved by the takeover last October by the group British Inyanga Marine Energy. The group (20 people, 8 million euros in turnover) should operate it until 2028.
« Specialist in the implementation of offshore renewable energy projects and tidal network technology, Inyanga Marine Energy has managed, since 2016, all underwater operations on the D10 tidal turbine. The continuation of this project was important to us. The disappearance of an actor is never good news », insists Diane Dhome, project manager at Inyanga Tech and based in Rennes.
« To provide attractive base power for areas like Ushant, tidal energy would ultimately have to be combined with storage and solar power. If the tidal turbine were abandoned, it would be catastrophic for the sector and for Ouessant,” she comments.
“The commercial future of tidal energy in France still depends on the Multi-Annual Energy Programming (PPE) project” she adds. The PPE is currently subject to debate until December 15.
No news from Blue Island
As Sabella's last CEO, Benoît Bazire, recalled, the D10 tidal turbine is a unique model, since there is no turbine of this size (10 meter diameter rotor) to turn. Before its liquidation, Sabella was working on a project, called Blue Island, aimed at finding financing to continue injecting electricity onto the island and replace the D10 demonstrator with turbines. With four one-megawatt turbines, the tidal turbine could have provided the majority of Ouessant's electricity.
In November in Nantes, Emmanuel Macron confirmed the FloWatt tidal farm project, carried out by the CMNs of Cherbourg with HydroQuest and Qair in the Raz Blanchard. However, he made no mention of the Blue Island project.
However, the Ouessant model largely inspired Sabella in its responses to international calls for tenders in areas not connected to the network. In the same way, Inyanga, which has just obtained an additional 10MW (20 in total) from the British government for its project in Morlais (Wales), is also banking on the decarbonization of small islands.
Via its subsidiary HydroWing, developer of tidal turbine technology, the group is preparing the development of the first tidal farm in Indonesia after signing an agreement with a subsidiary of the national electricity company, PLN. This 10 MW project, intended to provide electricity cheaper than diesel to a wider population, will be located by 2027-2028 in the Eastern Lesser Sunda Islands. Another project is also emerging in Capul in the Philippines.
