Hydro Group is celebrating a milestone from France’s first offshore wind turbine, which the Aberdeen firm helped develop.
The SEM-REV Floatgen Vestas turbine on the French Atlantic coast has passed site tests and generated 2.2 gigawatt hours of electricity in the first half of the year.
It was created with the use of Hydro Group subsea cables to provide power to 5,000 French people and developer Ideol said it reached more than 90% availability in the second quarter of the year.
Hydro Group carried out a £2.5million contract along with French partner Wenex to develop and provide other equipment for the installation.
Head of engineering Ian Walters said: “All of us at Hydro Group are proud to see that our equipment has enabled the turbine to export reliable electricity.
“According to turbine operator Ideol, average availability in the second quarter of 2019 alone has been above 90%.
“The SEM-REV project has been a great opportunity for us to demonstrate the performance and reliability benefits of our subsea connectivity products in a top-tier marine renewable energy project.”
The turbine also faced face heights of up to 6.2metres during site tests in the first half of the year which HydroGroup said was testament to the stability of their Scottish technologies.
Mr Walters added: “These tests have shown that our Hydro Renewable Connector and Power Distribution Hub technologies can play their part in the success of floating offshore wind thanks to their long design life of 20 years, anti-corrosion capabilities and sturdy construction.”
The turbine lies around 12 miles from the town of Le Croisic in the SEM-REV renewable energy site, operated by engineering school Ecole Centrale de Nantes.
Benoit d’Alançon, director general of Hydro Group’s local partner firm Wenex, said: “The performance of the Floatgen turbine during its recent tests is good news for the partnership between Hydro Group and Wenex Equipements.
“Once our tender was accepted, we were rapidly able to design, manufacture and test a custom solution to ensure our technologies would feature in connecting France’s first offshore wind turbine to the national grid.”
Recommended for you
