Kick-off of the Velella R&D project which aims to reduce the environmental impact of floating wind turbines

The project is being funded to the tune of €5.7 million by the French government as part of the France 2030 programme operated by ADEME following the DEMO Tase call for projects and involves several industrial and academic players: BW Ideol (project leader), Centrale Nantes, the OPEN-C Foundation, Ifremer, ENSTA Bretagne and IVM technologies.

This is a first in the marine renewable energy (MRE) sector: each innovation developed will be driven by an eco-design approach, from life cycle analysis to recyclability and impact on the underwater environment.

The project relies on the proven float technology developed by BW Ideol to organise its research and innovation activities. The 4-year project is split into 3 main areas:
 

• The first of these aims to continue efforts to optimise the economic and environmental performance of the BW Ideol float, particularly in view of the arrival on the market of high-power wind turbines (>20 MW).
• The second focus will be on the offshore deployment of anchor lines made of innovative materials and the implementation of new methods of underwater monitoring and inspection to further reduce costs in the operational phase.
• The third priority will be to assess the socio-economic impacts and to structure the floating wind energy sector.

Tests will be carried out on various sites made available by the partners, including BW Ideol's Floatgen wind turbine installed off the coast of Le Croisic on Centrale Nantes' SEM-REV test site, which is run by the OPEN-C Foundation.
 

After having hosted Floatgen on our offshore test site for 4 years, we are particularly enthusiastic about the prospect of contributing to the Velella project. Concrete ageing, life cycle analysis and recyclability of solutions, and environmental impact studies, which are not yet widely addressed in the industry, are all in line with our commitment to sustainable development.

Jean-Baptiste Avrillier, Director of Centrale Nantes

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