Background
The river tidal demonstrator winning the call for project from the ADEME (will be put into service by 2019. The demonstrator is located on the Rhone, downstream of Génissat dam, in Ain (East of France). It’s a world first.
Characteristics of the First French river tidal
- 2 MW farm covering 2 km
- 39 vertical HydroQuest turbines with double axis, 50 kW each
- average annual production of 6,700 MWh, enough to cover the electricity needs of about 400 homes
- 18 years of operating life expected
Ambitions
This French river tidal farm aims to demonstrate the economic and technical viability of river tidal farms to launch this sector in France. This demonstrator will also be used to improve the technologies and find way to reduce the production costs with the ambition to conquer the international market.
According to the CNR (Compagnie Nationale du Rhône), this project is a first worldwide because of its size and complexity.
In terms of environmental and societal impacts, this demonstrator is announced as:
- requiring no civil works;
- relatively quiet;
- avoiding the production of 300 tonnes of CO2 per year.
Timeline
2015
The project wins the call for projects from the ADEME (Agence pour l’Environnement et la Gestion de l’Énergie : agency for environment and energy management) as part of the Investments for the “programme des investissements d’avenirs”.
December 2017
An agreement has been signed by the project’s stakeholders: Compagnie Nationale du Rhône (CNR), hydrokinetic developer HydroQuest, shipbuilder Normandy Mechanical Buildings (CMN) and the French agency for the environment and energy (ADEME).
The project represents an investment of 12 million euros, with 50% funded by the ADEME.
October 2018
The first four turbines were assembled at the port Edouard Herriot in Lyon, before being transported by river to the final site of exploitation .
The farm should be commissioned and connected to the 2019 grid.
Photo credit: Hydroquest
