The European Commision’s Innovation Fund has awarded € 51m to two tidal farms in France’s Raz Blanchard as HydroQuest and Normandie Hydroliennes were unveiled as the winners in the latest funding call, which had 337 applications.
In the ‘pilots’ topic, 17 projects have been preselected for a grant, with Ocean Energy securing two projects in France.
HydroQuest has been awarded for its 17MW FloWatt tidal farm project, where in partnership with Qair it will install six tidal turbines in Raz-Blanchard in Normandie, France.
The scheme – which also received financial support from the French government – should come online in 2026 and will generate enough energy to power 20.000 local homes.
Normandie Hydroliennes also secured funding to install its 12MW NH1 tidal farm project (artist’s impression pictured), also in Normandie’s Raz Blanchard.
Composed of four 3MW turbines – the most powerful models to date – it is scheduled for 2028 and will produce 33.9GWh yearly.
This announcement adds 29MW to the existing pipeline of publicly supported European ocean energy projects in the next five years, bringing the outlook to 179MW across 15 projects.
Ocean Energy Europe chief executive Rémi Gruet said: ‘These two awards are another proof that tidal has reached technological maturity and is on its way to commercialisation.
“These two farms will be the largest in the world by the time they hit the water.
“This is further evidence that the French government demonstrated great foresight by supporting tidal energy – and that tidal can become the next French industrial success story.”