French renewables developer Sabella is partnering with QOS Energy to improve the performance monitoring of the 1MW Ushant tidal project off the coast of Brittany.
The D10 turbine, which is immersed in 55 metres under the sea, is using QOS Energy’s data intelligence platform to identify, assess and anticipate potential failures.
Sabella chief executive Francois Daviau said: “Operating and maintaining a utility-scale tidal turbine at such depth is particularly challenging, and data collection and analysis plays a vital role in doing so successfully.
“QOS Energy’s data intelligence platform enables our O&M team to visualise critical KPIs such as water pressure, temperature, swell energy prediction, rotor speed or torque compared to power produced.
“We need this cutting-edge monitoring capability to be able to fully understand performance, and effectively control potential failures.”
QOS Energy chief technology officer Jean-Yves Bellet said: “QOS Energy strongly believes that tidal energy will play an important part of the future clean energy mix, so we are very pleased to innovate with a pioneering company such as Sabella and make progress in the important field of tidal O&M.
“We believe that effective plant monitoring and optimisation will be instrumental in bringing this emerging technology from the margin to the mainstream.”