Sabella looks at May for tidal turbine redeployment

French tidal energy developer Sabella is targeting May to redeploy its D10 tidal energy turbine off France.

Sabella is currently conducting maintenance and optimization works on its 1MW tidal turbine that was retrieved from the Fromveur Strait, off Ushant island, last year, after one year of deployment.

The turbine is scheduled to be submerged again at the same place this spring for another testing campaign.

Jean-Christophe Allo, Business Development Manager for Sabella, said:

“The redeployment of D10’s turbine is planned this spring, probably in May, subject to current optimization implementation of our device and weather forecast.”

The turbine, with a rotor diameter of 10 meters and height of 17 meters, weighing around 450 tones, was first deployed in June 2015, and subsequently connected to the Ushant island’s grid last November.

Sabella’s D10 turbine will be equipped with RTsys sensor system that will measure the currents and waves, and will also feature underwater video cameras and hydrophones.