PARIS - (France ) - 13/11/2011 - Mer-Veille-MRE -
Original article by Francis Rousseau - translated and adapted by Christopher Longmore
On October 11 2011, DCNS (a sponsor of our publications) signed a letter of intent with the Norwegian giant FORTUM stating their intention to launch a joint feasability study into the viabiity of a pilot project of wave power electricty generation in France. FORTUM specialises in both nuclear and renewables power generation. DCNS hitherto a global giant in naval ship-building, thus becomes the only industrial group in the world with interests in ALL the marine renewable energy sectors, from floating offshore wind turbines (Winflo), tidal turbines (OpenHydro), Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC), civilian under-sea nuclear with the revolutionary under-sea nuclear power station Flexblue, and now wave power. Capitalising on its know-how, industrial strength, and expertise, DCNS covers the whole gamut of these new energy production systems from their design, to construction and later their maintenance.
Last January, DCNS took an 8% stake in the Irish company OpenHydro, who are world leaders in the tidal turbine field (see articles of 20 july 2011, 24 august 2011 et 1 september 2011). That deal allowed the two companies to converge their skills in the tidal turbine market. DCNS is also planning to develop and build a 10Mw ocean thermal energy plant in Martinique (see article of 29 november 2010), and to supply the island of Reunion with a land based prototype ocean thermal energy generator (article of 9 september 2011). Among the wave power systems involved in the letter of intent DCNS signed with FORTUM, one seems to stand out - the AW Power Wave Roller® that we described in 2008 and 2009 and again in 2010 (see. article of 29 June 2010).
In thier Joint Press Release published on 11/10/2011, (surprisingly only available in French), DCNS and FORTUM enthused that the project was in line with the ambitions of both companies. Thus Bernard Planchais, Managing Director of DCNS, said in substance "DCNS has all the skills to bring the appropriate industrial solutions to FORTUM (...) DCNS is ready and determined to play a major role in this market working alongside FORTUM on projects the precursors of full industrial deployment.". Matti Ruotsala, Executive Vice-President of FORTUM, for his part insisted on the fact that "The potential of wave energy justifies the investment in research into such power stations. We are convinced that wave energy is going to play an important role in the next generation of renewable energy systems. To work on the pilot demonstrator project for wave energy in France in the coming months will allow us to make considerable progress in R & D for the future of this energy source".
DCNS, with a workforce of 12,500, turnover of €2,5Bn and the winner of the Trophée national de l’entreprise citoyenne under the patronage of the President of the French Senate features here often and is well known throughout France, but the same is not true of the Norwegian FORTUM, almost unknown in France. Born in 1998 of the fusion of the two Norwegian companies Imatran Voima (IVO) and Neste Oyj, FORTUM has a payroll of 10,585 and its 2010 turnover was €6.3Bn - (Source: Fortum). Mainly specialised in the development of renewable energy power stations based on nuclear technology, hydraulics, geothermal, and onshore wind in North and East Europe, since 2007, the group has been actively involved in wave power. They have participated in the construction of pilot projects in Sweden and Portugal. In 2010, 86% of the energy produced by FORTUM in Europe was free of CO2 emissions. This was lso why FORTUM decided to participate in the calls for tender for the renewal of the hydroelectric concessions in France, as was announced at the end of 2010.
Fortum's interest in the potential of wave power has taken it in two technical directions: surface wave technology (under study in Sweden) and deep water wave technology (under study in Portugal). This last technology was developed in close co-oepration with the Finnish company AW Energy that invented and patented the Wave Roller® technology. It is this that is considered to be "an option that could be used in the project to be developed in France by Fortum and DCNS ". It is therefore worthy of further study. The Wave Roller® energy recovery system, first mentioned here in 2008 with other technologies then little known obtained a €3m EU grant in the context of the 7th Framework plan (2007-2013). (See. article of 5 October 2009) (French only) and started to generate wider interest. The prototype deployed at Peniche (Portugal) is of 3 x100 kv (voir photo left) and was destined to be installed in between 10 and 25 metres of water depth. Nothing is visible above the water or from the beach. There is no perceptible noise generated, and the process although very simple (or maybe precislely because it is so simple) has been designed to need no toxic or polluting lubricant. To carry out this Portuguese trial successfully, AW-Energy surrounded itself with European company heavyweights like Bosch-Rexroth and ABB, world leaders in energy and automation technologies, and also with national champions like the Portuguese Eneolica. With regard to the technology itself, we have often told the story but it retains all its original freshness. In 1993 the finnish diver Rauno Koivusaari, while exploring a wreck was struck by the regular movement imparted by the swell to a heavy metal door. Rauno wondered if the energy that moved such a heavy door could not be exploited for other purposes. Of this good idea were born in April and July 2008 the first two Wave Roller® prototypes - a kind of heavy door fixed to the seabed, the regular movement of which indeed started to generate electricity. Details here.
As well as the story, this leads to the reflection concerning the overall marked preferences all over the world for this kind of "panel" wave power unit, like the famous Oyster of the British Aquamarine Power or the equally famous BioWAVE of the Australian BioPower Systems. This choice is being made to the detriment of the OWC (Oscillating Water Column), like Wave Buoy, submerged or partly submerged like Powerbuoy from Ocean Power Technologies or CETO from Carnegie Wave Energy or even Pelamis Wave to mention but the most famous and most tested to date. The surface invisibility of the panel systems may perhaps be the explanation, but each technology has its pros and cons and the jury is still out.
Photos1: Wave Roller Operational Principals ©AW Energy. 2 : Artist's impression of Wave Roller © AW Energy. 3. Wave Roller Panel ©AW Energy. 4 Wave Roller 3x100 kv system ©AW Energy 5. Buoy system © FORTUM
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