The Institute for Energy Transition France Energies Marines, the Technological Research Institutes Jules Verne and b<>com, and the company Supergrid Institute have decided to join forces within the Wind Alliance. Their objective is to meet the growing demands of offshore wind energy.
They have developed a habit of working together on certain projects. Therefore, they have decided to combine their R&D and innovation expertise to benefit the wind energy sector, particularly offshore wind. The creation of the Wind Alliance will be officially announced on Wednesday, June 26, during the Seanergy exhibition in Nantes.
« It is not about creating an overarching structure but about implementing the complementarity of the four institutes, their agility, and their knowledge of industrial challenges to strengthen competitiveness and stimulate employment in the sector, » says Herveline Gaborieau, CEO of France Energies Marines (Fem).
At a time when the deployment of offshore wind must accelerate to achieve 45 GW by 2050, the challenges to be addressed have been identified.
Two projects are already underway. The focus will be on designing increasingly powerful offshore wind farms located further from the coast, large-scale manufacturing and assembly of very large components, grid connection, maintenance, as well as monitoring and security. These are areas in which each of the four institutes has specialized and which the Wind Alliance will facilitate combining.
The Alliance has already launched two projects. The first, led by Fem and IRT Jules Verne, focuses on the digitalization of offshore wind to reduce operational expenditures (Opex). The second, led by Fem and Supergrid Institute, focuses on HVDC floating substations that are essential for the deployment of floating wind.
« For all projects, we always start with a company that comes to us, » emphasizes Herveline Gaborieau.
