New project to tap tidal and river energy in North-West Europe

The SHINES project has been launched to unlock the potential of untapped tidal and river energy systems in North-West Europe.

SHINES (Showcasing Hydrokinetic energy Innovations for Northwest European Energy Sovereignty) will bring together partners across France, Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Germany.

It aims to develop tidal and river energy at the various gulfs, straits, islands, inlets, and spots along large rivers in the region by engaging various companies and working to overcome investment barriers hindering sector development.

The €10 million ($11 million) project, led by OPEN C Foundation, is co-financed by Interreg North-West Europe under the 4th call for projects and will run from January 2025 to December 2028.

Have you read?
EMEC announces new leadership team led by Matthew Finn
CorPower Ocean awarded €17.5m by European accelator

SHINES innovation

SHINES has selected three specific technology innovations for the project.

HydroWing, RivGen and TidalKite will be deployed and monitored in real sea environments in France and the Netherlands. Grid connections will also be supplied.

The HydroWing solution, designed by Inyanga, will include a 600kW tidal energy turbine on the Paimpol-Bréhat test site in France. It's a modular, multi-rotor tidal energy device which has been designed to reduce installation and maintenance costs.

Inyanga will also install and maintain the SeaQurrent TidalKite device at Paimpol-Bréhat, managing all offshore operations. The TidalKite system uses kites to harness the hydrokinetic energy of tidal and ocean currents. The kites are anchored to a hydraulic energy converter with a tether and can harness underwater currents in the same way a kite flies in the air.

ORPC Ireland will be responsible for deploying its RivGen solution. It generates electricity from river currents and is designed for reliable operation in remote and rural areas where heavy lift equipment and large marine vessels are not always available.

SHINES aims to spur cross-border collaboration and drive investments to ensure renewable generation capacity targets are reached. More specifically, the project is aligned with Europe’s Net-Zero Strategy and will contribute to the goals of 1GW of ocean energy capacity by 2030 and 40GW by 2050.