Akuo Energy, DCNS secure E72m funds for ocean thermal power plant in France

Akuo Energy and French naval defence company DCNS have secured €72.1m funds from the European Commission (EC) to develop a 16MW offshore pilot ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) plant in Martinique, France.

The project, known as New Energy for Martinique and Overseas (NEMO) was awarded funding after a 12-month audit led by the European Investment Bank. The funding was awarded from the second round of the EC’s NER300 funding programme.

DCNS and Akuo Energy have been working at the Martinique Caribbean French island for several years to define the options and conditions for the installation of a pilot OTEC plant.

The floating platform anchored in the sea will use the temperature difference between the warm water at the surface and the cold water in the depths to produce non-intermittent and carbon-free electricity.

Scheduled to be operational in four years, the project will generate enough energy for about 35,000 homes in the region. The project intends to deliver approximately 395GWh in the first five years of operation.

Akuo Energy CEO Eric Scotto said: "This decision on a European level consolidates the development of our group in insular tropical regions, on the most appropriate Marine Renewable Energy (MRE) technology for these specific areas," Scotto added.

DCNS senior vice-president for marine renewable energy Frédéric Le Lidec said that the selection of this project by Europe prefigures the development of an OTEC industrial sector in which DCNS will be one of the main stakeholders.

"This technology will eventually benefit all overseas island territories, non-connected to continental power grid, and therefore help isolated areas achieving energy self-sufficiency," Le Lidec said.

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Image: The project intends to deliver approximately 395GWh in the first five years of operation. Photo: courtesy of DCNS.