During Seanergy 2024, the major French event in the marine renewable energies sector, the technological research institutes b<>com, France Energies Marines, IRT Jules Verne, and SuperGrid Institute announce together the creation of the Wind Power Alliance. By combining the expertise and innovations of these four institutes, the alliance aims to strengthen the deployment of new technologies for wind energy industrials (manufacturers, developers, and equipment suppliers) to boost the competitiveness of the entire sector.
Meeting the challenges of the wind energy industry through innovation
The Wind Power Alliance tackles the challenge of scaling up wind power, particularly offshore wind, as wind farms' development, construction, and connection accelerate. The aim is to federate innovation players at the national level to ensure the viability of innovations, to deploy 18 GW of offshore wind power by 2035 and 45 GW by 2050.
In particular, the Wind Power Alliance aims to meet the major challenges of producing increasingly powerful offshore wind farms far from the coast, manufacturing and assembling considerable components on a large scale, connecting to the power grid, maintenance, monitoring, and safety. This holistic, technological approach will enable it to meet the growing demands of the offshore wind industry and significantly contribute to its development.
To achieve this, the alliance will be present at every stage of the offshore wind energy life cycle and will cover the entire value chain. It will also firmly commit to supporting local businesses that generate jobs in the French industry.
The synergy of four institutes with complementary expertise
The Wind Power Alliance will focus on projects requiring advanced systems and technological expertise.
Each institute brings its own specific expertise and technologies to enhance the efficiency and sustainability of offshore wind farms:
- France Energies Marines focuses on conception tools and technologies and in-service, environmental, and socio-economic monitoring technologies.
- IRT Jules Verne leverages its skills in manufacturing processes, component recyclability, and its ability to work on large-scale parts.
- b<>com is responsible for the connectivity and cybersecurity of wind farms, to meet the challenges of reliability and remoteness from the coast.
- SuperGrid Institute focuses on optimizing wind farms' electrical architecture and conversion, connection, and grid integration technologies.
The complementary nature of this expertise will enable us to meet the technical and operational challenges of the sector.
The Wind Power Alliance is already involved in two collaborative projects. The first, led by France Energies Marines and IRT Jules Verne, concerns the digitization of offshore wind energy. The second, led by France Energies Marines and the SuperGrid Institute, focuses on floating HVDC (high-voltage direct current) substations.
