France Investigates Producing Electricity from Ocean Tides

Tidal energy proponents are optimistic that the French government strategy of "investments in the future" could by the end of the summer lead to governmental support for the France Ocean Energies technological platform supported by the Institut français de recherche pour l'exploitation de la mer (French Research Institute for Exploration of the Sea, or IFREMER.)

IFREMER project manager Yann-Herve de Roeck said, "The goal of this project is to enable the sector to organize and its actors to pool a certain number of resources. France has many assets in the area of ocean energies, in particular manufacturers that master marine technologies and major groups with substantial resources. What has been lacking so far is the decision to invest. But the political will is there, we can feel a growing awareness," Le Monde reported.

France Ocean Energies has assembled major industrial groups like DCNS, EDF, STX, Areva, Alstom, and Technip and small and medium companies specialized in ocean energies from Aquitaine, Brittany, Pays de la Loire, Basse-Normandie, Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, and Reunion as well as research institutions like the National Center for Scientific Research, the Central School of Nantes, and Western Brittany University. The project includes 55 researchers, engineers, and technicians with a budget of $204 million over the next decade.

By. Charles Kennedy, Deputy Editor OilPrice.com