The Oceade turbine has a rotor diameter of 18 metres and a nominal power of 1.4MW. It is equipped with three variable pitching blades and plug-and-play modules on rails which are easily accessible via an inspection hatch at the rear of the nacelle. This should enable faster assembly and maintenance.
The turbine’s buoyancy makes it easy to tow to and from the operating site and this also improves cost-effectiveness as there is no need for specialist installation vessels. It also reduces the timeframe need to install or retrieve the turbine. The unit also rotates to face the tide at an optimal angle, thereby extracting the maximum energy potential.
Alstom successfully deployed a 1MW tidal turbine at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Scotland, in January 2013. The company is currently testing the turbine which has already reached 1MW, generating over 500MWh on the Scottish grid.
“With this new tidal energy production solution, Alstom has made definite headway” said Jacques Jamart, Alstom Senior Vice-President New Energies. “The project is seeking to demonstrate a new design for an efficient, reliable turbine to reduce installation and maintenance costs with a view to commercial production.”
Oceade is ready to be deployed at the tidal energy farm selected from the French government’s call for expressions of interest which has just been launced in September 2013. This will eventually result in the deployment of experimental farms in Raz Blanchard, west of the tip of Cotentin (Manche) and Fromveur Passage, near Ile d'Ouessant (Finistère). The project has received the support of ADEME (the French Environment and Energy Efficiency Agency) in the frame of the “Investissements d’Avenir” programme, and of FEDER (European Fund for Regional and Economic Development).
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