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HydroQuest SAS is a French developer of vertical-axis turbines, generating electricity from river and tidal currents.
The company was founded in 2010, in
The HydroQuest turbine is a double vertical-axis design, with counter-rotating blades inspired by Darrieus and Achard turbines.
The river turbine can be adapted for most rivers with a depth of greater than .
The tidal stream turbine design has two pairs of turbines stacked vertically on two parallel shafts. Each turbine has three blades, and the upper turbine is rotated 60° relative to the lower turbine, so the blades are offset to minimise loading. The first tidal turbine design had a lateral ducts either side and between the turbines, but this will removed in the next generation design to be used in the FloWatt project to reduce weight, loads and costs. The blades have also been redesigned to improve performance.
Meylan
Meylan (; ) is a commune in the Isère department in southeastern France. It is part of the Grenoble urban unit (agglomeration).
Population
Misuse of public money
In 2013, the newly reelected Mayor of Meylan Marie-Christine Tardy was bro ...
, Grenoble
Grenoble ( ; ; or ; or ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region ...
, and is based in the Inovallée
Inovallée (contraction in French for the words innovation and valley) is a science park located at Meylan and Montbonnot-Saint-Martin near Grenoble in France.
Created in 1972 with the acronym ZIRST, it became Inovallée in 2005 and primarily ...
science park.
They have installed several small in-river turbines, in France and French Guiana. They also tested a 1 MW tidal stream turbine off the coast of Brittany
Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...
from 2019 to 2021. HydroQuest and other partners are developing the 17.5 MW FloWatt project, comprising seven tidal stream turbines, expected to be built by 2027.
Device concept
The HydroQuest turbine is a double vertical-axis design, with counter-rotating blades inspired by Darrieus and Achard turbines.
The river turbine can be adapted for most rivers with a depth of greater than .
The tidal stream turbine design has two pairs of turbines stacked vertically on two parallel shafts. Each turbine has three blades, and the upper turbine is rotated 60° relative to the lower turbine, so the blades are offset to minimise loading. The first tidal turbine design had a lateral ducts either side and between the turbines, but this will removed in the next generation design to be used in the FloWatt project to reduce weight, loads and costs. The blades have also been redesigned to improve performance.
History
In 2013, HydroQuest installed a turbine in theOyapock
The Oyapock or Oiapoque ( ; ; ) is a long river in South America that forms most of the border between the French overseas department of French Guiana and the Brazilian state of Amapá.
Course
The Oyapock runs through the Guianan moist for ...
river in French Guiana
French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...
, powering the 200 inhabitants of the Camopi
Camopi (; ) is a commune of French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France located in South America. Camopi is mainly inhabited by Amerindians of the Wayampi and Teko tribes.
History
In 1738, a Jesuit mission opened on the ri ...
village previously relying on a diesel generator.
The company also tested a 40 kW HydroQuest 1.40 in the Loire
The Loire ( , , ; ; ; ; ) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône.
It rises in the so ...
river in Orléans
Orléans (,"Orleans"
(US) and HydroQuest have been collaborating with
(US) and HydroQuest have been collaborating with
IFREMER
The or Ifremer is an oceanographic institution in Brest, France. A state-run and funded scientific organization, it is France’s national integrated marine science research institute.
Scope of works
Ifremer focuses its research activities in ...
since 2015. In January 2024 launched the joint VERTI-Lab (vertical axis laboratory), to create specific analysis tools to support the development of vertical axis tidal stream turbines.
River Rhône turbines
In 2018, the HydroQuest-Hydrowatt Group installed four grid connected turbines in the riverRhône
The Rhône ( , ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Ròse''; Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Rôno'') is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and Southeastern France before dischargi ...
near Lyon
Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...
. They were installed upstream of the near the . Each turbine was rated at 80 kW, a total of 320 kW, and the project was expected to produce 1 GWh of electricity, or around the average annual consumption of 400 households. The turbines were built by Constructions Mécaniques de Normandie
Constructions Mécaniques de Normandie (CMN) is a French shipyard located at Cherbourg. It employs approximately four hundred employees covering the various specialities required for the construction of luxury yachts and warships.
Since its foun ...
(CMN) in Cherbourg. The farm was inaugurated on 21 December 2018.
A project to install a 2 MW project comprising 39 HydroQuest turbines, located downstream of the Génissiat Dam
The Génissiat Dam ( French: ''Barrage de Génissiat'') is a hydroelectric dam on the Rhône in France near the village of Injoux-Génissiat.
Construction began in 1937, but was delayed by World War II, and the dam did not start generating power ...
on the Rhône, was approved in 2017 by the French Agency for Environment and Energy Management (ADEME). It was expected to be built in 2019, but the project appears to have stalled.
OceanQuest testing at Paimpol–Bréhat
A 1 MW OceanQuest turbine was tested at Paimpol–Bréhat between April 2019 and December 2021. It was again constructed by CMN in Cherbourg, and comprised four vertical axis turbines each with three blades, mounted in pairs on two shafts. Each rotor was 3.8 m high with a 4 m radius. These were mounted in a frame 9.8 m high and 24.7 m wide, which housed two permanent magnet generators at the top of each shaft. The device weighed 1500 tonnes, and sat on a tripod foundation. The power curve of the turbine was certified byBureau Veritas
Bureau Veritas is a French company specialized in testing, inspection and certification founded in 1828. It operates in a variety of sectors, including building and infrastructure (27% of revenue), agri-food and commodities (23% of revenue), mar ...
against IEC
The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC; ) is an international standards organization that prepares and publishes international standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies. IEC standards cover a vast range of ...
TS-62600-200.
FloWatt project
In collaboration with CMN and renewable energy company Qair, Hydroquest are developing the FloWatt project. This will comprise seven HydroQuest turbine units, each rated at 2.5 MW, to be installed atRaz Blanchard
The Alderney Race is a strait that runs between Alderney and Cap de la Hague, a cape at the northwestern tip of the Cotentin Peninsula in Normandy. A strong current runs through the race north of the Passage de la Déroute, a treacherous passage s ...
, Normandy
Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy.
Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...
. The turbines will be again be constructed by CMN in Cherbourg. Each unit is 21 m tall, 26 m wide with a pair of three-bladed turbines mounted on a vertical shaft either side of a central structure.
The Windstaller Alliance, a joint venture between Norwegian companies Aker Solutions
Aker Solutions ASA is a Norwegian engineering firm headquartered in Oslo. The firm's production is focused on energy infrastructure, including systems and services required to de-carbonize oil and gas production, build wind-to-grid infrastruc ...
, DeepOcean and Solstad Offshore, was contracted to undertake a front-end engineering design for the subsea power systems of the FloWatt project.
The French Government is supporting the project with €65m funding and dedicated revenue support for the electricity generated. In September 2023, HydroQuest launched a crowdfunding campaign, seeking to raise a further €1.5m for the project.
In October 2024, it was announced that HydroQuest and had been awarded €51m between them from the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
's Innovation Fund to develop 29 MW of tidal stream capacity at Raz Blanchard. The project is now scheduled to be commissioned in 2027.{{Cite web , last=Tisheva , first=Plamena , date=25 October 2024 , title=EU grants support to two tidal energy projects in France , url=https://renewablesnow.com/news/eu-grants-support-to-two-tidal-energy-projects-in-france-872378/ , access-date=2024-11-16 , website=Renewables Now
References