Normandie Hydrolienne JV agreement signed for French tidal energy project

SIMEC Atlantis Energy has agreed terms to define its collaboration with Development Agency for Normandy (AD Normandie Développement), the regional agency for economic development in Normandy and regional investment fund Normandie Participations for the purpose of developing a phased large-scale tidal power project in the Raz Blanchard, Normandy, as well as fostering the marine industry and local supply chain in the region more generally.

The new Joint Venture company, called “Normandie Hydrolienne” will now commence site development, permitting and consenting works to allow for the construction of a phased array of tidal energy projects, in this area of high tidal resource, at scale.

The project involves the development of a multi-hundred-megawatt tidal energy array in the Alderney Race, the eight-mile (13km) strait that runs between Alderney, an island in the English Channel, and La Hague, located in Normany, north-west France, also known as Raz Blanchard. The project would utilise AR2000, 2MW horizontal axis turbines and could potentially be expanded to up to 2 GW.