USHANT SHOWCASE OF TIDAL ENERGY WORLDWIDE

www.sabella.bzh

USHANT

SHOWCASE OF TIDAL

ENERGY WORLDWIDE

02 | USHANT, SHOWCASE OF TIDAL ENERGY WORLDWIDE

SABELLASIMPLICITY TO RIDE THE TIDE

EDITORIALA word from the president

They deserve a wealth of thankfulness for their trust and

support to innovative SME and more specifically for their

continuous help in this project and in the integration of

the company toward export markets.

Inside this international nascent industry, the D10

projects (and its following) in the Celtic sea has become a

flagship for exploitation of marine currents and has

allowed SABELLA to enter into a « big four » of actors

which have already undergone real-conditions tests at

sea and at this power output, with success. The Ushant

application of D10 offers a true credibility, as a showcase

for other isolated places worldwide. This model

especially applies to ASEAN, where it could bring an

appropriate and carbon free solution.

Strengthen by this technological success and by our local

attachment and anchorage, SABELLA’s ambition is now

to represent France and our expertise so as to build a

bright industrial and commercial future that will answer

to the actual energy challenges, for economy, ecology

and society.

In the name of SABELLA, I must underline

the strong-willed policy from France, the

Brittany region and the European Union

to develop a hexagonal field for marine

renewable energy.

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Why tidal stream power?Tidal turbines harness the energy of marine currents,generated by the gravitational attraction of the Moonand the Sun, resulting in numerous advantages:

Unlimited and permanent source of clean power

Reliable and predictable energy, allowing a preciseestimation of the power production and an optimaland easy sizing of energy storage

A worldwide distribution of the resource

No impact on landscape

With the strong raising awareness of the repercussions ofclimate change on our planet and the politicalunderstanding of the need to take environmentalresponsibilities, the marine renewable energies have beenlately called to the forefront of the energy mix oftomorrow.

Founded in 2008, SABELLA is an innovative tidal andocean in-streams turbines developer, supplying reliableturnkey energy solutions worldwide.

After the successful immersion of the D03 prototype in2008, SABELLA stands out with the completion of itsdemonstration project in Ushant, Sabella D10 being thefirst tidal stream turbine immersed and grid-connectedto the French national grid.

ISO9001 certified, SABELLA offers a range of medium tohigh power tidal in-stream turbines, so as to fit thecharacteristics of each site.

With a differentiated and economically optimized range oftechnologies, protected by appropriated patents, SABELLAendeavors to promote a new energetic model tailored forremote grids on islands and isolated shore communities.Based on a clean and reliable resource, the model offeredby SABELLA to these markets is a sustainable alternativeto costly and polluting fuel-based power generation.

04 | USHANT, SHOWCASE FOR TIDAL ENERGY WORLDWIDE

Tidal power pioneer, driving for of the energetic transition

SABELLA

2008Foundation date

20Engineers

2Field-tested devices

Insular energectic modelDOM-TOM, ASEAN, Americas, subarctic, islands

Simplicity – Reliability - Ruggedness

Given its technical characteristics, Sabella D10 belongs tothe closed circle of full-scale high-power tidal turbinestested and validated in operating conditions.

THE TECHNOLOGY

Technical specifications

A credo inherited from the Oil & Gas: technologicalruggedness guaranteeing the reliability of underwaterequipment for a continuous power production leading to:

An investment costs minimization

The reduction of failure risks, due to mechanicalsophistication leading to a lower need for maintenance ofthe device in a hostile and difficult to access environment.The time span of maintenance operation can reach 7 to10 years against 2 to 5 years for SABELLA’s competitors.This is also a key point to decrease the costs ofexploitation and maintenance

Proof of its reliability and economical competitiveness,SABELLA certify its client an optimal energy production withrespect to the environment and to the sea users.

Deployed on the seabed and hold in position by its gravity-based foundation, the tidal device do not have any visual oracoustic impact at the surface.

Furthermore, neither the maritime traffic nor fishingactivities will be disturbed by the device as it is deepunderwater and where marine current are the strongest.There are no conflicts of interest for the marineenvironment.

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Sabella D10 : leadind edge of industrial series

Rotor diameter 10 metersMaximum power output 1 MW @ 4 m/sSupport structure Gravity-basedHeight 17 metersMass 450 tonsFootprint 20 x 20 metersRotational speed 5 to 20 rounds per minute

Sabella D10 is based on technological concepts tested andvalidated during D03 demonstration project, whichhenceforth constitute the differentiating technologicalprinciples of SABELLA’s design.

Horizontal axis turbine with fixed symmetrical bladesand no yaw drives→ No complex kineticsDirect drive synchronous generator with permanentmagnets→ No wearing partsInboard conversion and transformation→ Possibility to connect several devices to one exportcableGravity-based stabilization of the support structure→ No damaged to the site after decommissioningModular architecture→ Dissociation of the dynamic stability and energyproduction function to simplify the maintenanceoperations

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Sabella D10 – Ushant project

06 | USHANT, SHOWCASE FOR TIDAL ENERGY WORLDWIDE

Six years of innovation to complete a flagship tidal energy project

2010 2014 2015 2016

SABELLA is the successfultenderer of the « MarineRenewable Energy De-monstrators » call forinterest launched byADEME among five projects,as part of the « Investmentsfor the Future » nationalprogram.

The European RegionalDevelopment Fund inBrittany (FEDER) granted acomplementary subvention(5% of project costs)

June : SABELLA strengthen itscapital and secure theproject’s budget by carryingout a fund raising of 4,3million of euros, throughtwo investment funds,EMERTEC and GO CAPITAL,and three industrials, amongwhich two are part of thetidal technology construc-tion, CMI, FARINIA andGEOPETROL.

January : inauguration of D10assembly site in Brest port

April : end of assembly period

May : export cable layingoperation in the Fromveurstrait (Ushant)

June : installation of D10

September : electrical connec-tion of the cable

November : first tidal turbineconnected to the French grid

July : nacelle retrievalat the end of theauthorization period.Nacelle retrieval andlaying back trial tovalidate the modularapproachImprovement andfeedback for thepurpose of the futuredeployment in thesummer 2018 for the2nd campaign of tests toup-scaled the turbine

The key steps of the projectPhysics, environmental and social site characterization

Thanks to bathymetric measurements, anumerical model of the currents has beenmade. This study allows to define thefuture position of equipment both in thesea and onshore and to ensure anappropriate sizing.

Coupled with the environmental impactstudy from which is established anenvironmental monitoring protocol, therelevant administrative and technicalauthorizations have been obtained.

In parallel, the information andconsultation actions and process havebeen led with the public and several keystakeholders (islanders, representativesfrom the sea user, electedrepresentatives…)

Localisation : Fromveur StraitMax current speed: 4,2 m/sDepth : 55 metersDistance to the coast: 2 km

EngineeringThe design engineering of the SabellaD10 is launched in 2012, relying on trialson the pilot Sabella D03. Tests in basinundergone with the CNR-INSEAN (Italy),after being selected by the MARINETproject have confirmed the performanceand hydrodynamic loads of the device.

IFREMER and BUREAU VERITAS havealso shared their expertise withSABELLA’s engineers one. One providesits collaboration for marine environmentcharacterisation and the second for thepublication of the first calculation guidefor characterisation of tidal turbine. Thisis the first step toward a draft of a frameof reference for standardisation.

Construction & assemblySabella D10 is 50% made in France and50% locally made : blades and bulbsare made of composite, nacelle andsupport structure made of steel, cats-iron ballasts, generator electrical chain

In January 2015, the assembly site onBrest port has been inaugurated, 5thEast quay.

Apart from the electrical chain that ispre-integrated to the nacelle before thedelivery, most of the sub-subsystemsare transported and then assembled onthe site.

The assembly phase ends up with theantifouling painting and the installationof the sacrificial anodes in April 2015.

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Turbine installation

During the neap tide in June 2015, theturbine installation on the seabed isdone in one package, process allowingto decrease the time span for marineoperations.

To lead this delicate operation indifficult conditions, a « cargo heavy lift »has been mobilised plus three tugboat.Those three are able to keep the ship inposition in addition to its own mooring

system.

A ROV is following the descent of thedevice and checking its position whenits installed. A gyrocompass hasmeasured a 0% pitch and 139° position.Those measurement prove the perfectorientation of the turbine on theseabed, the operation is accomplished.

Plus d’informations : www.sabella-d10.bzh

Export cable layingThe export cable links the turbine to theland at Pors Arlan, on the South coast ofUshant.

The Argonaute, a ship equipped with aDP1 dynamic positioning system, ischartered for the laying, in May 2015. AROV and a team of scuba-divers arewatching and assisting the operations.

After being stabilized and protectedwith 200m long cast-iron shells, thecable is pulled to the land by floatingand then laid on the seabed.

Once the laying ended, the cable isunwound along a specific scheduledroute. Its extremity, equipped with asemi-conductor, is submerged into thewater and put in place afterward untilthe final junction

Grid connection

The connection between the exportcable and the cable was supposed tohappen right after the turbineinstallation, but the operation has beenrescheduled in September 2015because of the bad weather and seaconditions.

A DP1 ship, the Argonaute is againchartered for this operation.

Both extremities equipped with « dry-

mates » semi-conductors are recoveredto the deck and installed on a guideplate to ease the junction. An arch isalso used to guide the submersion andto stick to the bending radius of thecable. Once the connection is made, theentire cable can be deployed again. Thecommunication system from the landwith D10 is made, the brakes areopened: the turbine is now rotating andproducing its firsts kWh.

Lifting

In July 2016, after twelve months oftests and at the end of the authorisationperiod, SABELLA has retrieved itsturbine (only the top part of themodular tidal device, dissociable of thegravity-based foundation).

A ship with a D2 dynamic positioningsystem with redundancy, the AkerWayfarer has been chartered, assistedby a watching ROV.

Following the turbine retrieval and thesuccessful test of the second turbinelayout on the foundation, the modulararchitecture of the system is validated.

The turbine is brought back to Brestport for a detailed technical check-up.Some land infrastructures of Ushant hasalso been brought back to Brest for theexpertise. The foundation and exportcable have stayed on site.

A full year of trials and environmental monitoring

08 | USHANT, SHOWCASE FOR TIDAL ENERGY WORLDWIDE

After an entire year of tests, the D10 project has allowedSABELLA to gather a crucial feedback on this new kind of energyproduction. The knowledge acquire from the different aspects ofthe tidal turbine demonstration is, for sure, a competitive assetfor SABELLA. The challenge has been completed for this highcapacity turbine, and SABELLA is now part of the elite circle of 4to 5 competitors on the planet.

Strengthen by this success, SABELLA aims to pursue its learningprocess with a second campaign of trials and production-injection with the retrieval of the turbine in the summer 2018.

SABELLA has made the choice tosubmerge its device in one uniquepackage. This choice has highlightedthe rarity of ship with dynamicpositioning with lifting gears strongenough for such a heavy load.

Moreover, during the deployment,significant weaknesses have beenobserved regarding the ship capacityto hold a steady position, despite thepresence of three tug ship to assist.Those weaknesses have led to partialdamage to the cable.

This failure has motivated the choiceof a new installation philosophy whichwill be modular and pluggable andwould allow the use of strongdynamic positioning ship but withstandard means of lifting, often usedin oil and gas industry.

The lifting and laying back operationof the nacelle has been done in July2016 and has already approved thesuitability of the modular architect-ture.

Installation means and process

During this full year ofexperimentation, D10 has beendealing with diverse environmentalconditions, including high tidalcoefficient and several winter storms.Thanks to all the embedded sensorsand in situ scuba-diving observationoperations, the mechanical integrityof the device has been insured. Thefollowing conclusions have beendrawn:- Excellent structural holding of the

rotor

- Efficient stabilisation on theseabed and no movement of thestructure

- No vibration modes withdamages to the device

- Good thermal dissipation

These conclusions have beensubstantiate by further analysis withthe deeper technical assessment ofthe nacelle, back in Brest port.

Sizing and structural behaviour

Mechanical integrity Modular installation

Electricity production and injection to the grid

Production > 70 MWh

Sabella D10 has produced more than70 MWh between November 2015and March 2016, reaching maximalpower output around 400kW duringthis period.The injection to the grid has beensupervised by EDF SEI and ENEDIS,producer and administrator of theUshant grid.On the other hand, the signal qualityproduce by D10 has been controlledand validated by EDF SEI and ENEDIS,regarding its voltage, frequency andharmonic.The optimistic results of D10 offered anew perspective of a 1 MW maximalpower output possibility for thesecond campaign of trials.

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The improper laying and the partialdamaged to the export cable havedisturbed the environmental dataacquisition for some sensors.However, the registered data by theautonomous sensors have clearlyconfirmed the innocuousness of thedevice toward the submarine faunaand flora as well as the acousticemergence.

The damaged export cable hasgenerated functional losses anddriving issues, but it has allowed totest different ways of driving and thecontrol/command of the device hasbeen improved with new electronicredundancies. The initialredundancies have already allowed tocheck the exploitation flexibility ofthe device, even in a deterioratedrunning.

Control/Command and driving

Driving validation

Environmental monitoring

Environmental innocuousness

Social acceptation

Appropriation of the project

Thanks to the amount of publicmeeting, the continuous communi-cation and regular information onsocial medias, the D10 project isfollowed and appropriated since thebeginning by the Ushant inhabitants.This technological blue adventure israising a real craze by the population.In addition, being the first French grid-connected tidal turbine, D10generates a rising interest fromnational public decision-makers.

Strategies & perspectives

10 | USHANT, SHOWCASE FOR TIDAL ENERGY WORLDWIDE

SABELLA, actor of the energy transition

An energy model for islands

Energy distribution is a major question for non-connectedcommunities such as islands and far-flung places,energetically isolated. With a price of electricity to the roofcompared to the continental interconnected grid and astrong dependency to fossil pollutant energies, these areasare a key stake for the energy transition. SABELLA hasunderstood this problematic and has focused itsdevelopment toward these isolated regions, away from thegrid, economically receptive to the deployment of tidalsolutions even still industrially immature. Current electricproduction of such isolated communities based on pollutingand costly diesel power generators whereas marine currentis cost-competitive, predictable, clean, silent and invisible.Several initiatives have emerged to start the energytransition for islands and far-lung areas, to commercialisedlow carbon emission integrated solutions that fit the needsof the population.Thanks to its experience with D10, SABELLA is from now on akey partner for the developers of such projects. Thecompany is an active participant to programs for thedevelopment of renewable energy on islands, providing itsexpertise to develop hybrid production and the use of fuelfree electricity.

SMILE

Joint project with a collaboration between diversedevelopers including SABELLA, different academic partnersas well as Brittany communities, the SMILE project focuseson the development of new smart energetic project that willcoupled storage, renewable energies and smart grids to beused on the islands of Ponant, Yeu and Ushant.As Ushant as already started its energy mutation with D10pilot, its goals is now to substitute the entire electricity

production by a mix system including marine energy herefrom 2030.

Intelligent Community Energy (ICE)

The INTERREG « ICE » (Intelligent Community Energy), partof the SMILE program and supported by BDI (BrittanyInnovation Development) is following the MERIFIC project.SABELLA has been asked to develop a tidal infrastructure at abigger scale and to maximize the injection of its productionto the Ushant grid.

Local Energy loop (BEL)

Under the aegis of the Brittany region, an energy transitionconvention has been signed between the three islands ofPonant (Sein, Molène, Ushant) in order to develop a localenergy loop (BEL) on this three islands. They have beenlabeled as positive energy territories for the green growth.

Second trials campaign

In this context and after the complete technical audit, theD10 turbine will be reinstall on its foundation. This secondcampaign will allow to strengthen the previous acquirefeedback and to increase the maximum power output, butalso to secure the energy supply to Ushant, in theexpectation of the future pilot farm deployment.

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« PHARES » project

Convinced by the adequacy of the technical solution ofSABELLA and of the renewable energy supply of Ushant project,AKUO ENERGY, first French independent energy renewableproducer, has decided to associate with SABELLA for thedevelopment of a tidal pilot farm. The farm will be composedby two tidal D12 turbines with a maximum power output of1,2 MW and a diameter of 12 meters.

The raising project from this cooperation, PHARES (AdvancedHybrid Program to Renew the Energy in Insular Systems)propose a hybrid insular energy model, coupling differentmeans of electricity production from renewable sources (tidalturbine, wind turbines and photovoltaic panels) for amaximized substitution of fuel power generators. A powerfulstorage solution will secure the equilibrium between offer anddemand of energy, ensuring an optimal exploitation of therenewable production sources and a minimal action for the fuelpower generators.

The commissioning of these different components of thisenergy system are scheduled for 2019, for an exploitation thatwould last around 20 years.

Further to the electricity supplying security, the penetrationratio of renewable energy in the energy mix of Ushant isestimated to be 70%, leading to a reduction of the same levelof carbon emission.

Commercial deployment of the Fromveur

The pilot farm foreshadows a wide deployment in the FromveurStrait, allowing the acquisition of multiple feedback(production, stability, social acceptation, environment). Anexploitable potential of 500 MW of tidal energy power outputwould match the energy needs of the residential sector of theFinistère region, mainly powered by Flamanville and Cordemaisnuclear power plants.

Brest polder

The pilot farm is also the prelude to the development of a newindustrial field that will enhance Brest port with thetransformation of the space into an industrial site dedicated toMarine Renewable Energy. This project is part of the expansionof the port project.

International development

In parallel, SABELLA keeps going with its developmentworldwide, targeting countries that are combining an attractivepotential in tidal resources and a need for self-sufficiency andsecurity of the electricity supply. In this way, SABELLA keepsmaking new relations and collaborations.- Philippines: an exclusive partnership have been signed in

2015 with the local project developer, H&WB, for thedevelopment of a pilot farm in the San Bernardino Strait,where the potential for tidal energy is estimated at 500 MW.

- Indonesia: a significative industrial agreement signature andthe creation of the MPS consortium with PT. Meindo ElangIndah and PT. Prima Langkah Pratama pave the way to amajor tidal energy development in this archipelago of morethan 17,000 islands.

- North and South America: projects at different stages areraising, particularly in the Canada’s High North

- In the DOM-TOM and in the islands across the globe:SABELLA is pursuing its prospection and the identification ofpotential areas of development.

Our partners

7, rue Félix le Dantec29000 Quimper – France

[email protected]+33 298 101 235www.sabella.bzh

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