Submerged to a depth of 55m in the Fromvert Current (one of the most powerful currents in Europe), the D10 now supplies up to 75% of Ouessant Island’s electricity needs at high tide. This tidal turbine was the first to be connected to the electrical grid in France.
It continues to operate, but Sabella, the Quimper company created in 2008 and which operates it (about twenty employees), is now in receivership after being dealt with in Quimper’s commercial court. Sabella has been facing cash flow problems for months, if not years, due to the lack of opening up of the tidal energy market in France, which has prevented it from finding partners and investors.
In these circumstances, management clarifies in a press release, “we are implementing solutions to continue the activities of our employees (preserving their know-how), maintaining continuity of service in Ouessant, continuing projects under development, promoting tidal energy among energy companies and finding new financiers as soon as the government provides the necessary visibility to this sector. »
“Our teams are currently responding to tenders in the defense and renewable energy sectors,” Sabella managers say. However, they continue, the lack of a legal framework does not allow new investors to finance the continuation of our development. Only the creation of tidal power plants will allow us to become beneficiaries, and for this we need the state to include tidal turbines among the renewable energy sources being developed in France. The goal is to develop an industrial sector in Brittany that provides numerous jobs, focused on the sea and renewable energy sources.
Sabella planned to build a plant for the production of tidal turbines in Brest. But now, due to the cessation of payments, the company has six months to find capital and bounce back. On the Iroise Sea side, for now, there is no need to worry, the tidal turbine will not let the people of Ouessant go anytime soon…
Source: Le Parisien
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