Home > The maritime sectors > Marine renewable energyMarine renewable energy
The world potential for marine renewable energy generation could be in the order of 120,000 TWh of electricity per year. This would be close to the annual consumption of the whole of humanity! France’s maritime sectors are well placed to take advantage of the development of renewable energy. It has the second largest Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), offering huge opportunities for all types of marine renewable energy (wind, current, tidal, wave, ocean thermal energy, ...), a research capacity, and a strong diversified industry with opportunities for significant synergies with these new activities. France is firmly committed to regulation. Under the Kyoto protocol, it along with other EU countries must produce at least 23% "green energy" by 2020 (under directive 2001/77/EC). Against this background, tenders have been and will be invited to try to achieve a quota of 6 GW with marine renewable energy (MRE). France faces major challenges in attempting to generate this amount. Developing the technologies, installing farms and connecting them to the terrestrial grid will take time before this ambitious target can be achieved, but it must be done.
 SER brings together more than 400 firms and associations with activities related to areas such as wind energy, geothermal energy, photovoltaic solar energy, thermal solar energy, hydraulic energy, wood energy, bio-fuels and other biomass sources. More than a thousand firms are represented through SER member associations. The mission of the SER is: • to promote the interests of French industry managers and professionals working in the renewable energy sector; • to further French interests in the main European programs set up to boost this sector. SER promotes renewable energy through development of the activities covered by its members. To this end, SER represents them with public, national, European and local authorities and with regulatory authorities. SER promotes the results of these activities with the public and in the media.
MRE committee of the GICAN France is firmly committed to regulation. Under the Kyoto protocol, it along with other EU countries must produce at least 23% "green energy" by 2020 (under directive 2001/77/EC). Against this background, tenders have been and will be invited to try to achieve a quota of 6 GW with marine renewable energy (MRE). France faces major challenges in attempting to generate this amount. Developing the technologies, installing farms and connecting them to the terrestrial grid will take time before this ambitious target can be achieved, but it must be done. Marine renewable energy (MRE) requires specific expertise and knowledge of a particularly harsh environment. At the beginning of 2011, the GICAN (see page 19) set up a MRE-Industry committee to bring together and provide a structure for manufacturers from the French maritime industries wishing to take part in MRE development. Besides construction, maintenance of field installation vessels and MRE field services, manufacturers in the naval and marine sectors can also engage in building foundations and support structures for energy generators, electricity sub-stations, etc.
France Energies Marines is a research institute devoted to Marine Renewable Energies. The Institute supports the growth of this new industrial sector and covers the whole range of MRE, namely fixed and floating offshore wind, tidal current energy, wave power and ocean thermal energy conversion. Built around a large public-private partnership, France Energies Marines enhances synergies between academics and industrial players through multi-disciplinary research teams. In synergy with its research activities, the institute coordinates 5 test sites for sea trials: 2 offshore wind, 1 wave power, 1 tidal current and 1 estuarine current energy. www.france-energies-marines.org
Project developers for marine renewable energy (fixed offshore wind turbines)
 EDF Energies Nouvelles group is an international leader in renewable energies. The company develops, finances, installs and operates green electricity power plants in Europe and North America, primarily for its own owner-operator account and for third parties. Winner of the French offshore wind energy call for tenders for the Courseulles-sur-Mer, Fécamp and Saint- Nazaire projects, the Company is also present in other segments of the renewable energy market: marine energy, biogas, biomass and small hydro as well as in distributed energies. EDF Energies Nouvelles is a subsidiary of the EDF group. www.edf-energies-nouvelles.com
With 118.2 GW in total installed electricity capacity, including 15% from renewable energy sources, and 11.8 GW under construction, GDF SUEZ, as a world energy leader is a major electricity producer. In France, GDF SUEZ has an installed power capacity of over 8,200 MW with 60% from renewable energy. GDF SUEZ is committed since many years in the development of renewable energies. In France, the group is the leading actor in onshore wind power with over 1,000 MW operating capacity and is the second hydroelectric power producer with 3,800 MW. GDF SUEZ is also a leader in the field of French solar power generation with five large photovoltaic parks currently in operation (41MWc). The development of marine renewable energies is an integral part of the group’s strategy, as illustrated by the development of its offshore wind farm project in Belgium, it’s tidal stream turbine projects in the United Kingdom and in French Polynesia, and it’s wave energy converter projects in Brazil and Portugal. In France, through it’s subsidiary La Compagnie du Vent, GDF SUEZ is responsible in particular for the development of the Tréport offshore wind farm project since 2005. Moreover, the group is working on two projects located at the sites of the most important French tidal energy sources: Le Raz Blanchard in Basse Normandie and the Passage du Fromveur off the Finistère coast, in Brittany.
The French pioneer in wind energy, La Compagnie du Vent, a subsidiary of GDF SUEZ group is today vital to the renewable energy sector. It owns and runs 20 windfarms in France with, on the 30th April 2011, a total output of more than 230 megawatts. It has also initiated the ‘Deux Cotes’ offshore windfarm project off of the Normandie and Picardie coastline, and develops it alongside with GDF SUEZ Group. The Company also tries to diversify in the field of bioenergies and continuing its development also proposing a large range of services and partnerships in France and abroad.
 Joint winner along with EDF Energies Nouvelles, Alstom and DONG of the first contract to develop wind farms off the coasts of France, Nass&Wind Offshore develops offshore wind farm projects with a potential capacity of more than 1,000 MW. Employing the best practices currently available in Northern European countries, Nass&Wind Offshore carries out technical and environmental studies to accurately identify sites suitable for locating MRE projects. A major asset when it comes to persuading the most demanding industrialists and investors interested in projects of this type off the coasts of France.
Neoen develops, finances, builds and operates green power plants: wind farms, solar farms and biomass units. Neoen Marine as a subsidiary of Neoen and Caisse des Depots is developing Marine Renewable Energy projects. Neoen Marine has launched its development in 2007 allowing its projects to reach a high level of maturity thanks to the expertise and the commitment of its teams to design these structuring industrial projects in close cooperation, with the local stakeholders. In the French offshore wind tender released in 2011, the consortium in which Neoen Marine has joined forces with, has been granted the zone of Saint Brieuc.
 Vattenfall group, which parent company is fully owned by the Swedish state, is one of Europe’s largest electricity producer and the largest producer of heat. In 2011, the group had about 35,000 employees and has made €20bn revenue. Second largest hydropower company in the European Union, Vattenfall is also a leader in offshore wind with 9 farms in operation in 5 countries. Vattenfall is willing to invest and to bring its expertise to the French tenders.
Subsidiary of the international wpd Group, wpd Offshore France designs and develops offshore wind farm projects along the French coasts. With the construction and management of more than 100 renewable energy plants throughout the world (for a total capacity of more than 2.2 GW), the wpd Group has built up an unequalled expertise in wind power. Indeed, wpd is one of the major players in offshore wind farms with around 1,000 MW under construction, mainly in Baltic sea. For the first French offshore tender, wpd Offshore France is co-winner of its two projects located on the Channel for a total capacity of 948 MW: Courseulles-sur-Mer and Fécamp.
Marine renewable energy also includes In addition to fixed offshore wind turbines, marine renewable energy includes: • floating wind turbines, • hydrokinetic power, • wave power, • tidal power, • ocean thermal energy conversion. These types of energy have the advantage of being both steady and predictable. France has a potential 12 GW of installable power and an annual quantity of recoverable energy estimated at 10 TWh/year.
Guinard Energies is a development company which has developed the MegaWatForce underwater turbine system designed to harness and increase the energy output from the ocean currents and transform it into electricity. The nature of the design allows the system to produce energy in large predictable quantities.
Turbine design, manufacturing, installation and maintenance for offshore and other Marine renewable energy 
 Wind turbine design, manufacturing, installation and maintenance With 30 years of experience in wind power, Alstom delivers comprehensive solutions, from wind farm design and installation to wind turbine supply and maintenance. Alstom offers a wide range of onshore wind turbines with a capacity of 1.67 MW – 3 MW. To date, the Group has installed more than 2,200 wind turbines in more than 120 wind farms, with a total capacity of more than 3,000 MW. Also active in the area of offshore wind power, Alstom is currently building the Haliade 150, the first next-generation offshore wind turbine with a capacity of 6 MW. With the Haliade 150, Alstom has become the exclusive supplier of the consortium led by EDF EN for projects located on the western coast of France in Saint-Nazaire, Courseulles-sur-Mer and Fécamp, encompassing a total of around 240 wind turbines. The concrete implementation of an industrial plan to create a French sector of excellence in offshore wind power will begin with the installation of 4 plants in Saint-Nazaire and Cherbourg in the coastal region of Brittany. It will be supplemented by an Alstom engineering and R&D centre dedicated to Marine Renewable Energy, the first centre of its kind located on French territory. Alstom also designs and develops tidal and wave energy converters . Tidal and Wave energy converters design, manufacturing, installation and maintenance. With their enormous development potential, ocean energies are going to bring greater fuel diversity to the energy mix. To meet these nascent needs, Alstom has set up its global Ocean Energy Department in Nantes (France), which is developing two new technologies: Tidal In Stream Energy Converters (TISECs) to convert tidal currents into energy, and Wave Energy Converters (WECs) to convert swells and wave surges.
The R&D teams are working on a set of development projects for France and the world involving mechanical and electric skills, command control and measurement, manufacturing and supply chain, on-shore bench-tests and site studies. Designed as integrated systems, TISECs and WECs currently under development are based on the Alstom Group’s technological heritage and Hydro, Wind and Grid (energy transmission) expertise.
 AREVA, via its German subsidiary AREVA Wind, designs, manufactures, assembles and commissions 5 MW high-output wind turbines, the AREVA M5000 specially designed for large offshore wu. The group manufactures also rotor blades for offshore wind turbines – AREVA Blades – therefore securing the supply of a broader range of key components. Customers are also offered with five to ten-year service plans are also to ensure the performance of all components. At the end of 2009, the group has installed the first six offshore turbines of alpha ventus wind farm in Germany, a pioneering offshore joint project operated by DOTI, a consortiumcomprising EWE, E.ON Climate & Renewables and Vattenfall companies. Situated approximately 45 kilometres north of the island of Borkum in the German Bight at a water depth of 30 metres, alpha ventus is the first German wind farm to be built at sea under real offshore conditions. The construction, erection, operation and integration into the power grid provide essential experience in developing future commercial offshore wind farms. AREVA is amongst the top 3 industrial players of offshore wind. By 2014, 600MW will be installed reinforcing the industrial and technological lead of the group. Thanks to this unique track record, AREVA is ready to roll it out on the major offshore wind markets in the world, and more specifically in the United- Kingdom and France. In France, AREVA will provide Ailes Marines, Iberdrola and Eole RES joint company, with one hundred turbines for the Saint Brieuc Bay parc to be commissioned 2017 and 2020. AREVA will create two plants in le Havre, for nacelle and blade production, to supply this field. This industrial base will also be ideally located to supply offshore wind farms in the Channel as in southern North Sea.
 Having included marine renewable energy as an intrinsic part of its Championship strategic growth plan, DCNS is the only industrial company in the world to invest in all four of the key technologies in this sector: the tidal energy generated using underwater turbines known as ‘tidal turbines’, the ocean thermal energy technology that exploits the difference in temperature between the warm surface water of tropical oceans and the cold water found in the ocean depths, the offshore wind energy generated by offshore floating wind turbines, the wave energy technology. With 400 years of expertise in shipbuilding and its in-depth understanding of the marine environment, DCNS is committed to playing a major role in the development of a new marine renewable energy industry. In achieving that ambition, DCNS can rely on its advanced expertise in design engineering, complex systems reliability and marine technologies. Moreover, DCNS has all the dedicated industrial resources required to grow successfully in this market.
Saipem is a leader in the execution of turnkey contracts (Engineering, Management, Procurement, Construction and Installation) for large Offshore and Onshore projects in the area of energy and maritime infrastructures, with unique capabilities in design and construction and a fleet of specialized vessels. Renewables energies represent a new area of development. Saipem has conducted numerous feasibility studies and participates in tenders for offshore wind farms. Saipem is also a partner of the tidal turbine project Sabella. The group employs over 40,000 people including 2,500 in France (in its headquarter of Saint Quentin en Yvelines and in regional offices through its subsidiary Sofresid).
Establishing an industry creates an opportunity for a country. This is the angle of approach being adopted by numerous maritime players, such as: Bretagne Pôle Naval , Bureau Veritas (page 65), DAHER , Les pôles de compétitivité mer , Louis Dreyfus Armateur , Neopolia , STX , VDC Offshore, etc.
Services, systems and products to offshore operators 3B Conseils publishes an international newswatch at the www.marine-renewable-energy.com portal
 The LHEEA is a research laboratory associated with the CNRS. It studies marine and oceanic engineering problems using a combined approach: computer simulation and experimental simulation, aided by the unique experimental facilities available in France.
EurOceanique, part of The MacArtney Underwater Technology Group, is a global supplier of underwater technology specializing in design, manufacture, sales and service of a wide range of systems to offshore operators, surveyors, the renewable energy sector, ocean sciences, security forces and navies. Our expertise extendsfromsubsea connectors, cables, junction boxes, to launch and recovery systems, ROV and ROTV, telemetry systems, oceanographic and hydrographic instrumentation, sonars, etc. We offer a range of advanced and reliable systems from proven components to state-of-the-art integrated packages.
The purpose of the SPL West Normandy Marine Energy, of which the ordering parties are the Regional Council of Basse Normandie, the General Council of Manche and the Urban Community of Cherbourg, is to: • promote the region to stakeholders working in the field of marine renewable energies; • create an industrial sector based on marine renewable energy. www.west-normandy-marine-energy.fr haut de page |
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Syndicat des Énergies Renouvelables (SER)
