DCNS and EDF Energies Nouvelles winners of ADEME's call for expressions of interest: a decisive step towards the creation of a French tidal energy industrial sector

The Prime Minister, on the basis of the analysis of the environment and energy management agency (ADEME), selected DCNS and EDF Energies Nouvelles as part of the call for expressions of interest (AMI) for tidal turbine pilot farms. Their NORMANDIE HYDRO project provides for the installation in the Raz Blanchard of a pre-commercial farm of seven tidal turbines. The turbines, built on the basis of technology developed by OpenHydro (a DCNS subsidiary), will have a unit power of 2 MW and will be fully connected to the network in 2018.

Announced in Cherbourg in September 2013 by the President of the Republic, François Hollande, this call for expressions of interest, which is part of the Future Investments Program of which ADEME is operator, aims to support the creation of pre-commercial farms in order to promote the consolidation of the tidal energy sector in France.

The support granted by the Future Investments Program to the NORMANDIE HYDRO project rewards cooperation initiated in 2009 between DCNS and EDF Energies Nouvelles to develop tidal energy projects. The two groups have been working for several years on the choice of sites and design studies, in close consultation with the authorities and all stakeholders in the area (fishermen, associations, economic players, local authorities, State services) in the aim of promoting natural resources and human activities.

Today, thanks to the support of the Future Investments Program, the two partners will install off the coast of Cherbourg, in the Raz Blanchard, a pre-commercial farm of seven OpenHydro tidal turbines, for a total power of 14 MW, making it possible to supply electricity to around 13,000 inhabitants.
This project, supported by the Lower Normandy Region, confirms the local desire to develop an industrial tidal sector in Cherbourg.

Commenting on this announcement, Thierry Kalanquin, President of OpenHydro and Director of the Energy and Marine Infrastructure Division of DCNS, declared: “The selection by ADEME of this project gives impetus to the development of a French industrial sector of the tidal turbine of which Cherbourg will be the engine. The farm that we are going to deploy in Raz Blanchard alongside EDF Energies Nouvelles will allow us to be on the market to respond to future calls for tenders which will be launched for commercial tidal turbine farms in France. and internationally.”

For Antoine Cahuzac, Managing Director of EDF Energies Nouvelles: “The selection of the NORMANDIE HYDRO project rewards the quality work of the EDF Energies Nouvelles and DCNS teams on this innovative technology. Marine energies are promising sectors of the future, EDF Energies Nouvelles, and more broadly the EDF group, have the ambition to contribute to their industrial competitiveness. »

Next steps in the NORMANDIE HYDRO project
Ready to begin the pre-commercial phase now, the DCNS and EDF Energies Nouvelles teams plan to:
• In 2015, the continuation of the consultation, the finalization of the development of the project and the obtaining of the necessary administrative authorizations;
• From 2018, the final connection to the tidal farm network.

The NORMANDIE HYDRO project should make it possible to participate in the increase in the skills of French tidal power players. Ultimately, with the deployment of future commercial farms in France and Europe, it will give the Lower Normandy region the opportunity to host an assembly and maintenance hub, with several hundred jobs at stake.

The NORMANDIE HYDRO project is a continuation of the deployment of the Paimpol-Bréhat experimental farm (Côtes d'Armor) which consists, for OpenHydro and EDF, of installing two tidal turbines in 2015 off the coast of Paimpol and thus confirming the technology before the pre-commercial project.

DCNS and EDF Energies Nouvelles are taking a new step in the development of tidal energy through this NORMANDIE HYDRO project. The installation at sea of seven machines, for a period of 20 years, aims to confirm the dedicated means and installation methods as well as the associated industrial organization. This decisive step will allow the two partners to validate the economic model of tidal farms, before moving to the industrial stage and commissioning the first commercial farms.