Tidal turbines: why Sabella takes over the activities of GE Renewable Energy

Specializing in the design and development of tidal turbines, the Quimper-based engineering company Sabella signed a contract on January 18 through which it intends to continue its growth and its establishment on the market for electricity produced from marine currents.

By acquiring the tidal turbine activities (stopped in 2016) of GE Renewable Energy, the 25-person SME has become the owner of a portfolio of varied concepts and technologies. These assets include the technologies developed since 2003 by the General Electric subsidiary in the tidal stream field, but also by the companies resulting from the acquisition of Alstom's energy assets in 2015 (TGL, Rolls Royce, Alstom). Sabella also gets its hands on Oceade, suspended in 2017 and whose technology concerns three types of turbines (DG III, DG IV, DG IV.1) whose production amounted to 1.6 GWh.

Sabella, which has developed its own turbine concept, now has the possibility of offering the technologies best suited to the natural conditions of different environments. With the aim of achieving a more competitive cost of electricity that is closer to that of other renewable energies. If nuclear is around less than 50 euros per megawatt hour, offshore wind power drops and is displayed at 120 to 130 euros per megawatt hour while solar is around 142 euros.

Valorization of technological bricks

"The addition of patents and technologies studied by GE Renewable Energy and confirmed by thousands of hours of in situ experiments will make it possible to optimize the design of future generations of products, in particular for new applications, with potential impacts on the turbines themselves, their installation and maintenance. These technological bricks should be developed to bring innovations, optimize the performance and reliability of our tidal turbines and reflect on our strategy,” explains Marlène Moutel, sales engineer at Sabella.

GE Renewable Energy is also posing as a partner and is not losing interest in the tidal turbine sector. According to the terms of the contract, the company also entered the capital of Sabella to the tune of 15% and within the board of directors. “GE Renewable Energy sees this investment as a way to participate in the development of one of the most promising renewable marine energies,” the GE group also points out in a press release.

GE Renewable Energy has joined the other shareholders of the Quimper company: the Ecotechnologies investment funds of Bpifrance, Demeter Ventures and Go Capital, and industrialists such as Sofresid (innovative solutions for ports), the Farinia group (forge, foundry) or Dourmap (industrial electricity). Part of Sabella's capital is held by employees and individuals who invested in the fall of 2019 via a crowdfunding campaign on the Breton platform Gwenneg.

Since 2016, the company has financed its investments through fundraising. She is preparing another in 2021.

Immersion this summer of the D10 tidal turbine

In addition to the Covid-19 crisis, the business plan of Sabella, founded in 2008, is penalized by the lack of visibility of the tidal turbine market in France and internationally.

Noted for its D10 tidal turbine, launched for the first time in 2015 in Fromveur to experiment with the diversification of the energy model of the island of Ouessant, Sabella has been accumulating technical and electrical hazards since 2019.

Submerged again in 2018 and 2019, with the initial objective of producing 10 to 15% of the actual consumption of Ouessant, the tidal turbine has been reassembled twice and is now undergoing maintenance in Brest. The SME is working on a complete new design of its connection system before a possible new immersion in the summer. It is a priority to capitalize on feedback from this demonstrator.

At the same time, the Ouessant Sabella project carried out in partnership with Akuo Energy and the Brittany Region has also been delayed. As part of the Phares project, two D12 tidal turbines with a diameter of 12 meters (500 kilowatts), for which Sabella had built a prototype of a new generation and less expensive blade, will be immersed for 25 years in the Fromveur current and will part of a multi-energy pilot farm. This energy mix will also be covered by a wind turbine (900 kilowatts), solar panels (450 kilowatts) and a storage system installed on the island. The partners initially planned to produce 80% of the electrical energy consumed thanks to MREs, starting in 2021. Finally, due to funding delays, the overall implementation of the project is planned for the summer of 2023. The ambitions have also been revised downwards: 65% of electricity will be linked to MREs.

International Strategy

Resolutely oriented towards an international strategy for several years, the Quimper-based SME is packing its bags for the short term. In 2018, Sabella promoted its tidal turbines by targeting areas not interconnected to the national electricity grid. In Australia, for example, and targeting certain isolated aboriginal communities, but also on the islands of the Philippines or Indonesia. But political decisions are slow.

“Countries' energy strategy for tidal turbines is still in the making. Our current priority is to continue the engineering work. The technology still needs to prove itself. Hence the importance of the contract signed with GE Renewable Energy”, recognizes Marlène Mourel.

The sluggishness of the market and the search for machine optimization also delayed the project to install a tidal turbine assembly site on the new polder in the port of Brest intended for MREs. Sabella is still discussing with Brest Métropole Océane but the construction and assembly forecasts of 30 to 50 units by 2022-2024 have been postponed to a more distant deadline.

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