THeoREM support institutions

Centrale Nantes, a leading French engineering school, deploys academic and applied research at the highest international level. Thanks to more than 30 years of research, recognised training programmes and unique ocean engineering test facilities in Europe, Centrale Nantes is today one of the European leaders in research and innovation on marine renewable energies.

Its CNRS laboratories, including the LHEEA, the GeM and the LS2N, rely on complementary approaches: numerical (modelling, high performance computing etc), model (ocean test facilities) and full-scale testing (SEM-REV offshore test site) on various topics: offshore / floating wind, tidal turbine, wave energy, automatic control, smart grids, durability of materials and so on. Centrale Nantes has established close links with industry in the context of collaborative projects, research chairs, incubation and startups and services from the private subsidiary Centrale Innovation.

Through the use and development of modelling and simulation software, the 4 tanks for model-scale testing and full-scale testing at the SEM-REV offshore test site, Centrale Nantes researchers provide support for companies and manufacturers throughout all stages of project development, from pre-design to full-scale testing.

Ifremer is a French institute that undertakes research and expert assessments to advance knowledge on the oceans and their resources, monitor the marine environment and foster the sustainable development of maritime activities. Ifremer designs and implements tools for observation, experimentation and monitoring and manages oceanographic databases.

To carry out its missions, Ifremer has developed skills and test resources to improve our understanding of the physical, chemical and biological mechanisms responsible for the ageing of polymer and composite materials in the marine environment, and to contribute to broadening scientific and technical expertise for the design and sizing of offshore structures and equipment (modelling of fluid / structure interactions, experimental simulation). These resources are available for marine energy conversion demonstrators across the entire MRE sector.

This work is carried out by a research unit which operates a deep water wave tank (20m) and an experimental canal in Brest, a wave current circulation flume tank at Boulogne-sur-Mer and an offshore test site (Sainte-Anne-du-Portzic). Together with pressure test tanks, traction benches and a metrology laboratory, these facilities foster the development of numerous partnerships, from collaborative projects with local SMEs to international academic projects and with multinational companies.

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Created in March 2023, the OPEN-C Foundation is the largest testing center for Renewable Marine Energies in Europe. It brings together all French offshore testing facilities for floating offshore wind, tidal, wave energy, offshore hydrogen and floating photovoltaics... Over the next 3 years, the OPEN-C Foundation will make several major innovations, including the testing of five separate prototypes of new-generation floating wind turbines and support many innovative MRE projects. The OPEN-C Foundation is a non-profit public-interest organisation which contributes to a more rapid energy transition and to enhancing France's position on these strategic issues.

The 5 OPEN-C Foundation offshore test sites:

• Paimpol-Bréhat: Dedicated to the development of the tidal turbine industry.
• Sainte Anne du Portzic: This Ifremer site is co-piloted with the OPEN-C Foundation for all activities in the filed of Renewable Marine Energies.
• SEM-REV: Created in 2007 by Centrale Nantes, it is operated by the OPEN-C Foundation. It is connected to the grid and hosts prototypes for wave and wind energy recovery.
• SEENEOH: Located in the Garonne river and exposed to strong currents, the site is dedicated to testing river or marine tidal turbines on an intermediate scale.
• MISTRAL: A test site in the Mediterranean, 5km from the coast, currently under construction and authorized for the installation of two floating wind turbines.

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Since the 1st of January 2020, University Gustave Eiffel brings together a university (UPEM), a research institute (IFSTTAR), an architecture school (EAVT) and three engineering schools (EIVP, ENSG, and ESIEE Paris). Having strong national and international networks thanks to its founders, it propose interdisciplinary programs in teaching-research and expertise (civil engineering and materials sciences, environmental sciences, languages, mathematics and numerical sciences, arts, urbanism, transport, economy, sociology, architecture, geography, geomatics, literature, history and politics, …).

Its campus based in Nantes is involved since several years in research and development of civil engineering structures for offshore renewable energy taking advantage of its skills, equipment and expertise acquired in oil and gas and maritime civil engineering areas (geotechnics and geophysics, construction materials durability, assembly techniques and structures, NDT and monitoring, acoustic or environmental appraisal, …).

This involvement is particularly effective through the use of two large equipement facilities aiming at improving the design of ORE structures: a geotechnical centrifuge that allows working on the foundation and anchorage of the structures, and a cable fatigue test bench aiming at realizing real scale investigations on mooring and umbilical cables.

Learn more about University Gustave Eiffel