Floating offshore wind turbine field
France’s world leader in naval defence DCNS has drawn on its knowledge of the sea and its unique experience of new technologies to position itself on the renewable energy market.
ENERGY FROM THE SEA Tidal stream turbine
T
he theoretical potential of marine energy is unparalleled. Each year, the oceans receive a quantity of solar energy that is one thousand times greater than world demand. They redistribute this energy in the form of winds, currents, waves, etc. According to Ifremer, marine energies could potentially represent a net contribution of 17.2 TWh/year in 2020, and contribute to the objective of increasing renewable energy production in line with Grenelle Environment Project. 14 Industry Europe
Tidal stream turbine
To capture marine energies, seven families of technologies coexist at different levels of maturity. The most well-known is the fixed offshore wind turbine. It is the most mature of the renewable marine energy technologies and is similar to land-based wind turbine systems, which convert the wind’s kinetic energy into mechanical energy then electrical energy using turbines. Fixed wind turbines are installed on foundations directly set on the continental shelf.
Alongside fixed offshore wind turbines, we find floating offshore wind turbines, which allow the installation of energy-conversion systems far from the coast in areas where the depth exceeds 50 metres. This system allows the exploitation of stronger and more consistent winds, thus giving access to denser energy resources whilst minimising the visual impact from the coast. The other technologies used to convert marine energies are tidal turbines (which har-
