French company EEL Energy has ramped up testing activities on its tidal energy technology whose design was inspired by bio-mimicry ahead of trials at SEENEOH test centre in Bordeaux planned for this year.
Based on the concept of bio-mimicry, a practice that learns from and mimics the strategies found in nature to solve human design challenges, EEL Energy’s tidal energy converter has been designed to replicate the undulating movements of marine life.
EEL tidal energy converter consists of a membrane that optimises energy transfer by coupling fluid flow with an undulating structure.
Energy is converted along the whole length of the membrane surface which undulates under moving fluid pressure, and this periodic motion is transformed into electricity by an electromechanical system.
Over the course of almost two years, EEL Energy has been conducting a long-term testing campaign on a scale model in the discharge channel of the Aquanord fish farm in Gravelines to measure the quantities of electricity produced and further streamline its tidal energy technology.
Now, the company has installed another device to the test setup with the aim of performing ‘smart optimisation’ on the new model that will later be implemented into larger EEL tidal converters.
The ‘smart optimisation’ means the machine will be able to automatically disengage and stop its production should it encounter a problem, while remaining in the water. The membrane automatically relaxes and lies flat in the current, offering no more resistance and therefore no more force, according to EEL Energy.
Both devices are currently operating close together and producing electricity without any recorded disturbances, EEL Energy noted.
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This is expected to pave the way for the installation of larger tidal energy farms in areas with suitable resources like those in France and the United Kingdom.
Test campaign at SEENEOH site
The newly-installed model at Aqunord is in fact the one that will later this year be tested in Bordeaux, where the SEENEOH test site is located.
However, the power production levels are expected to be higher as the size of the converter will be increased from current 1.6 by 2.4 metres to 4 by 4 metres.
After that, the plan is to add another tidal energy converter in the first quarter of 2022, that will be even larger in size. Spanning 5 by 7 metres, the second converter planned for SEENEOH will be able to produce up to 50kW at flows of 3m/s.
The ultimate goal of EEL Energy’s testing campaigns is to reduce the risk of trial and error while manufacturing larger machines, according to the company.
Franck Sylvain , CEO of EEL Energy, said: “This has taken longer than expected both due to the fact that there are always unforeseen events with this type of innovation, and also because we suffered from COVID 19 head-on. The most important thing is that we have succeeded in making a machine work in a sustainable way for several months this year and that this allows us to feel confident about developing bigger machines”.
The sale of smaller converters is not very far off for the company, according to Sylvain. “We just need a few more months of testing to make sure that maintenance is minimized”, he added.
Sylvain also revealed the company plans to launch a fundraising round to accelerate the development of the technology, though no specific dates have been set.
The fundraising will complement the funds already secured from Feder and the European Union through the Interreg program, which represent more than €1.5 million in grants.