The Grand Port Maritime de Bordeaux calls for candidates for off-shore wind-power in the Verdon area

BORDEAUX - (France) - 22/06/2011 - 3B Conseils & Marine Renewable Energy Ltd
By Francis Rousseau - translated  from the original French by Christopher Longmore


Le Grand Port Maritime de Bordeaux (GPMB)  wants to promote the Verdon area in the offshore wind power sector. An article published recently in Mer et Marine.com makes aboslutely clear GPMB's wish to develop its Verdon port terminal with the introduction of the industrial activities needing to be close to port infrastructure, code for building off-shore wind generators. GPMB claims to be "absolutely able to welcome all the production phases of latest generation onshore and offshore wind turbines (manufacture, assembly, and export) " on its land and adds that it can also "offer a site particularly well adapted to tests and trials of all kinds. The prospect of creating a Zone de Developpement Eolien (ZDE) (Offshore windpower development zone) is a powerful argument, reinforcing the attractions of the region for the emergence of a new sphere of activity."  GPMB is also a member of the "Cluster Eolien Aquitain" (Aquitane Offshore Windpower Cluster.) (Site in French only), 

The Cluster was founded in 2010 at the instigation of the President of the region, Alain Rousset. Like all clusters, it brings together private and public sector participants working in the offshore wind power sector in the Aquitane region, and unites the complemenetary skills of local agencies, industrial and state organisations. Supported by the Aquitaine Region and the Communauté Urbaine de Bordeaux (Site in French only), the cluster puts in contact leading edge companies in the domaine of energy stockage, aerospace/defence, and composite materials with R & D laboratories of world renown. The leading companies in the offshore wind turbine industry contribure their knowledge of the market and customer requirements. 


If you actually look at the detail, there is no doubt that a favourable industrial concentration absolutely exists with companies like

• Valorem the pioneers of French offshore wind power since 1994. Having developed and built numerous onshore power projects they are also well placed to move into offshore.
• Plastinov,  specialises in the study, development, and launch of objects made of composites.
• Lectra, involved in the manufacture of wind turbine blades,
• Epsilon Composite, world leader in pultrusion of carbon fibre, and above all the French aerospace giant,
• EADS.

Since 2008, EADS, via Eurocopter UK and the EC135, has the contract for the maintenance, personnel and materials  transport for the British  Greater Gabbard offshore wind farm - one of the biggest in the world, and due to be completed in 2012. It is above all the EADS Astrium divison that is of particular interest to us. They are European No.1 and global no. 3 in the aerospace industry, uncontested world leaders in space transport, satellite systems and other space services, and have made a clear decision to bring to bear the quality requirements and experience  earned from 40 years of  aeronautical sector to the manufacture of the manudacture of wind turbine blades. At the end of 2010 , Valérie Cazes, director of equipment and services declared in an interview published in the Financial Times Deutschland (and taken up by Reuters): " We want to be the number one in the manufacture of wind turbine blades in France, and, why not, throughout Europe.... We are thinking of course of exporting to Germany as well.".

Since then EADS Astrium has taken ordrs from AREVA Wind (view the technical film of the Areva M5000 offshore turbine) and the Groupe Vergnet. The Cluster Eolien Aquitain therefore absolutely has sufficient industrial means to achieve its lofty ambitions. Adding to the potential of this already impressive skills list is a number of new development projects based on the excellence theme are already under way locally to meet the needs of a contstantly changing sector. Alongside MIB (Materials and Systems Institute of Bordeaux),called the  Institut Carnot, and INRIA Bordeaux-Sud-Ouest, various laboratories are developing skills recognised for many years in civil engineering, acoustics, machanical and energy engineering, modelling and manufacture of materials, captors, microsystems, signals analysis,  polymers and composites...Companies like Rescoll, a private company specialising in technical innovation particularly in polymers  and Nobatek (innovatory products and processes in the durable construction  industry) or even  the plateforme d’innovation Canoe ((French only) (nanostructure materialss) brin and technical capacity liekly to develop new pruducts and processes.

Confident in the support potential of the powerful industrial and scentific network of the Cluster Eolien Aquitain, and of the results of a research study into the creation of new industrial and logistical activiities in the port of Bordeaux entrusted to  Ernst & Young, (deliverd on 05/05/2011), le Grand Port Maritime de Bordeaux (GPMB) therefore decided to call for applications for five land concessions on the Verdon site. One of them is in the freeport area, for industrial projects of one or more operators.  A trial one of 100 ha. of which 14 are of immediate use could also be made available for the installation of prototypes. Representatives of the port underlined in their statement that " the Verdon deepwater terminal, equipped with a ramp for roll-rolloff ships and having pre-storage and storage spaces situated immediately behind the unloading area represents a highly efficient port infrastructure, capable of meeting the logistical needs of the wind turbine industry, particularly those offshore forecast for France and Europe at large. Industrial synergy with the  Bordeaux Blanquefort Eco Park (French only) and the Grattaquina port site that has invested  €20 million to build a new port terminal that allows the the loading of vey large structures".
Candidates have until 15 September to present their proposals, with selection of the chosen no later than 15 November. The GPMB then expects to sign a 3 year reservation contract with the selected candidate "for an industrial project able to generate marine traffic and enhance the Verdon industrial port area, integrating the different environmental issues of the site".  This is a strategic decision with regard to the as-yet non-existent French and foreign offshore wind farm projects that seems to offer an excellent development opportunity in the medium and long term for this major South West European port.


Between 500 and 1000 direct and indirect jobs could be created by the site.


NB : The President of Cluster éolien Aquitain, founded in December 2010, is Jean-Yves Grandidier,  MD de Valorem

Sources : Sites linked and cited. Photo 1 : Verdon Site © GPMB. 2: Sites Plan © Cluster Eolien Aquitain  3: Turbine blades © EADS Astrium . 4 Offshore turbine © AREVA Wind  5: Schema of the Verdon Zone © GPMB  6: Worker at an offshore wind farm © AREVA Wind

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FERMENTALG: €14.60m for the industrial exploitation of microalgae.

LIBOURNE- (France) - 21/06/2011 - Posted by Marine Renewable Energy Ltd
Translation by Christopher LONGMORE from the original article by Francis Rousseau of 3B Conseils.

Only in January the French start-up company  FERMENTALG had raised €5.3m from investors of national stature like Emertec, ACE Management, Demeter Partners, CEA Investissement, ( a high-tech start-ups specialist), Aquitaine Creation Investissement, and the Groupe Picoty - a specialist in trading and stocking petroleum products., pioneer and leader in the research, development, and production of microalgae. Now it has just announced that it has raised a further €14.6m in subsidies and investment funds with the support of OSEO to launch the first major European project based on the use of microalgae. (EIMA). 

The idea, known for some time, is based on layers and cultures of algae called "heterotrophs" or "mixotrophs"  needing little or no light to grow thus increasing the yield 50 or even 100 fold than that obatined from tradtional "autotroph" cultures.

Pierre Calléja, the founding president of FERMTALG (seen here with part of his cultures bank) is a biologist who has already worked in the aquacole sector with Ceva Santé Animale. In a recent interview with the Sud Ouest newspaper said that "with EIMA (the French acronym for Industrial Exploitation of MicroAlgae), we are entering into the era of real exploitation. Thanks to this 5 year program, we are able to put in place a real factory and different production processes. We will start with food supplements like Omega 3s next year, moving on to molecules for the cosmetics industry in three years time, and then to green chemistry for bioplastics. The last task will be the development of biofuels. Just 1000 sq. mtrs. will be enough to rpoduce as much bio-diesel as 500 hectares of colza - a yield 5000 times higher, guaranteed,  is produced without chemicals, pesticides, or polluting residue, and that has a good carbon footprint.


This is a song already heard from the other side of the Atlantic, where there have been several encouraging results. In France, the ambitions EIMA project brings together a network of first rank participants uniting all those most interested in the raw material generated by algae. FERMENTALG has allies like Lactalis - French no 2 in the agrofood industry, Pierre Guerin Technologies - stainless steel vessel specialist, Sanders - animal feed, Rhodia - chemicals and cosmetics, and Diester - French no. 1 in biofuels. The company has also formed alliances with scientific institutions like the Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique et aux energies alternatives,  INSA (Institut National des Sciences Appliquées), ITERG (Institut National des Corps Gras).

These links between the public and private sectors could finish as a 120 person consortium. The EIMA project should result in tenfold reduction in the costs of producing biomass from algae within 5 years, thus enabling its use for the production of biofuels. Pierre Calléja commented: "This phase of industrialisation, which is the first in Europe, allows us to raise FERMENTALG to the same high level as our principal global competitors in the world, be they in the USA or China, and opens vast development oppoortunities".


Founded in 2009 in Libourne, near Bordeaux in south-western France, FERMENTALG currently has 20 employees and owns a wide portfolio of intellectual property in the field of microalgae and their exploitation. Given the substantial capital committed and the partners it has recruited, the FERMENTALG project seems to be for now one of the most serious French forays into the domaine of biofuel production from algae.

Sources: The documents and sites mentinned. Photos: ©Fermentalg


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HYUNDAI HEAVY MOVES INTO TIDAL CURRENT POWER BUSINESS.

Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world's biggest shipbuilder and Korea's largest green energy provider, today completed the site trial of  a prototype 500kW tidal current power system at Uldolmok Passage in Jelllanam-do, southwest Korea.

The prototype tidal current power system was from ideas developed jointly with the shipbuilding division using concepts directly derived from ships' propellers. It connects a tidal turbine, a gearbox, and a generator for power transmission. The system can operate regardless of current direction.

After completing factory and basin trials last year, the Company successfully produced target power generation from site trials this May. Contrary to the company's usual openness, here they have been very "discreet" and the details released conspicuously do not show anything about the design of the unit.

Based on the data collected from the trials, Hyundai heavy plans to pursue tidal current power farm projects by scaling up power generators.

Source:  Hyundai Heavy Industries and Marine Renewable Energy ltd.

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IBERDROLA RENOVABLES STARTS WORK ON THE WEST OF DUDDON SANDS OFFSHORE WIND FARM PROJECT

• The project is being developed on a 50/50 basis with the Danish company Dong Energy

• The company has started development of its first offshore wind farm, which will have an installed capacity of 389 megawatts (MW) and requires total investment of 1.6 billion pounds
• The design phase has been completed, including the selection of wind turbines and connection to the land power grid. Construction will begin next year and the facilities are planned to be operational in 2014

 West of Duddon Sands will have a total installed capacity of 389 megawatts (MW), enough to meet the electricity needs of 300,000 British homes. It will be one of the biggest offshore facilities in the world when it begins operations within three years.

The start-up of this renewable energy infrastructure will require total investment of 1.6 billion pounds, which will be funded on a 50/50 basis by IBERDROLA RENOVABLES and Dong Energy. The facility is located 14 kilometres south-east of the cost of Barrow-in-Furness in England.

The two companies have already completed the full design of the project, including the selection of wind turbines to be installed and the decision on power connections. These will require an underwater cable and transforming station to carry the energy to the national power grid.

The construction of the wind farm will involve the use of two ships specially designed for this type of infrastructure, as they enable work to be carried out in extreme weather conditions.

Assembly will largely be in the port of Belfast, while the operations will be carried out from the port of Barrow. The construction of the offshore facility will create an estimated 500 jobs, in addition to others needed in the future for operation and maintenance.

Work is expected to begin next year on the electrical connections, while the wind turbines will be installed in 2013. The facility is planned to be operational in 2014.

Souorce: Iberdrola and Marine Renewable Energy Ltd.

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LANDSVIRKJUN wants to develop joint wind and marine turbine systems

Iceland

REYKJAVIK - (Iceland) - 16/06/2011 - 3B Conseils and Marine Renewable Energy Ltd
By Francis Rousseau 
Landsvirkjun, the Icelandic national electricity generator that supplies 74% of that country's electricity needs, plans to double its capacity over the next 15 years. To achieve that the national comapny will rely mainly on renewable energy sources, specifically hydro-electric power stations, and geothermal stations, already in extensive use, but also on and off-shore wind farms (the ICEWIND project), and on tidal stream energy. The development of wind and tidal stream energy systems are the subject of a shared  research program, since Iceland considers beneficial the use of twin systems .

Icelandic Meteorogical Office, Iceland University and Landsnet are involved in this research program , planned to be complete in August 2014 in three main phases:

• studying ice build-up on wnd turbines
• introduction and development of an Icelandic on-shore wind farm
• development of offshore wind power

According to Ingolfur Orn Thorbjornssonof the' Innovation Centre Iceland (ICI), quoted in an InterPress report: "The exploitation of tidal stream energy may be exploitable in the coming five to ten years."  Research is already underway discreetly in in the West Fiors region of Iceland and a prototype is under manufacture with the support of ICI, says the report. It is known that Landsvirkjun has alrady examined  the possibility of building an underwater cable  that would link Iceland and Northern Europe with a view to exporting the electriciyt produced by its geothermal and hydroelectric power stations. This export project could be extended to other renewable energy sources. It should be noted that another underwater cable project to link Iceland, Northern Europe, and North America. The project is managed by NORDUnet(Nordic National Research and Education Networks), the Canadian company CANARIE (Canada's Advanced Research and Innovation Network) and the multi-national NSF GLORIAD based in the USA. This project known by the nake of ICELINK is presented as "permitting scientists connected to NORDUnet to take advantage of the geothermal and renewable energu sources of Iceland"


Landsvirkjun currently operates 16 power stations in Iceland of which 13 are hydro-electric, 2 geo-thermal, and 1 fossil fuel powered.


Sources : Sites mentionned and linked. Photo : Iceland Scenery © Landsvirkjun

The partial or total reproduction by any person physical or corporate on any media of the documents and information placed on-line in this blog without the prior written permisison of 3B Conseils and the citation of the source of that information, its date, and authors is strictly forbidden and will result in immediate legal action.