French developer Blue Shark Power is in advanced negotiations with the government of Djibouti to supply an up to 200MW tidal array by 2022.
The Nouvelle-Aquitaine company will install a 500kW Blue Shark Marine turbine early next year in the east African nation.
The remainder of the project is scheduled to be built in phases over three years.
Dutch Drilling Contractors has been lined up to drive piles into the Volcanic seabed on top of which the turbines will be placed.
The development will be installed up to 600 metres off the southern region of Goubet, where waters can be as deep as eight metres.
Brittany outfit Meunier will provide mechanical parts for the turbines while a handful of Italian companies will deliver generators and electrical cabinets, it is understood.
Meanwhile, Blue Shark has signed a contract with Chinese project developer LHD to install a 300kW tidal turbine off the eastern province of Zhoushan.
The turbine will be delivered this summer, one year later than initially planned.
The project will be connected to LHD’s two-turbine 1MW tidal system already in place off Zhoushan island.
Blue Shark will also test a multi-hundred-kilowatt tidal turbine by early 2019 at the Seeneoh test centre in Bordeaux.
A 10MW tidal farm off Gibraltar is currently on hold due to the Brexit process, a source said.
Image: Pixabay
Blue Shark sinks teeth into tidal
By EBS