SHINES launches to tap tidal and river energy in northwest Europe

The SHINES project is planned to unlock the potential of tidal and river energy systems in northwest Europe, where it is still largely untapped.

SHINES (Showcasing Hydrokinetic energy Innovations for Northwest European Energy Sovereignty) brings together 14 partners from France, Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Germany to address the challenges of tidal and river energy development in the region.

Northwest Europe is considered a prime location for tidal and river energy development, with specific locations including gulfs, straits, islands, inlets and spots along large rivers offering promising conditions.

However, despite the potential, tidal and river energy in the region requires further investment to overcome political, economic and regulatory hurdles.

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SHINES plans to address these challenges by replicating and scaling up three innovative solutions, HydroWing, RivGen and TidalKite, through grid connections and real sea deployments at sites in France and the Netherlands.

The HydroWing technology from Inyanga Marine is a tidal energy turbine that has been designed in modular form to provide low cost operations and maintenance.

A 600kW turbine is planned for installation at the Paimpol-Bréhat tidal demonstration site off the coast of Britanny in France.

A TidalKite device from SeaQurrent also is planned for installation by Inyanga at the same site, with the company managing all offshore operations.

The RivGen technology is a modular river current power system from ORPC, but its deployment location has so far not been specified.

The SHINES project is being co-financed by Interreg North-West Europe through the European Regional Development Fund, with €6 million towards the €10 million budget and runs from January 2025 to December 2028.

The project is considered to align with Europe’s net zero strategy and to contribute to the goals of 1GW of ocean energy capacity by 2030 and 40GW by 2050.

SHINES is led by the French marine renewable energy research institute, Fondation OPEN-C.

“We are looking forward to implementing this important project for the sector with the development of several projects that will be demonstrated in real conditions on the OPEN-C sites, in particular the Paimpol-Bréhat site in Brittany and the SEENEOH site in Bordeaux,” commented Managing Director Bertrand Alessandrini.

An action plan also is intended at more than 10 high potential sites to spread the word to organisations on the potential of tidal and river energy systems.