Theme 3: MARINE ENERGY Resources

The Bilboquet project involves creating a new, high-output electricity generating system, based on recycling the energy of the ocean's swell, using the movement of a guided buoy to drive a generator.

The main equipment will be supported by an anchored column, whose restricted motion serves as a reference point for the buoy system oscillating with the swell. As the buoy rises and falls in time to the swell, which has a maximised range, it transmits the swell's energy via a high-output rack and mechanical transmission system. The  Bilboquet may be anchored at various depths and offers the crucial feature of multidirectional functioning.

The scale of the Bilboquet may be adapted to suit environmental conditions (ocean swell and depth) and to optimise energy output, which will range from 1 500 to 3 500 kW, and includes a 120-kW demonstrator that could offer an alternate source of sustainable energy for isolated island locations.

The project will develop this low-power system and, through its realisation and sea trials, will enable the R&D to be validated. The project partners will, in addition, perfect a method for simulating the output of a farm of Bilboquets, which can be adapted to other groups of renewable energy systems (e.g. offshore wind farms).

The project's subsequent ambition remains the eventual production of units generating an average of 2 MW.
 

BILBOQUET PROJECT PARTNERS

Companies

• D2M, La Seyne-sur-mer, naval architects and marine engineering company, project director

• CMD, Cambrai, specialists in high-power mechanical transmission

• CervVal, Plouzané, company working in field of simulation using virtual reality

• Breizadic, Plouzané, manufacturer of electronic systems for power output variation

• Adetel Equipment, Ecully, company specialising in power electronics

• Océanide, La Seyne-sur-mer, offshore and coastal maritime testing tank

• Bureau Veritas, Paris, global leader in ship classification and certification

Research centres

• Ifremer, Plouzané, French marine research institute

• ENIB, Plouzané, Laboratory of the national engineering institute in Brest
   

Contact

• Cette adresse email est protégée contre les robots des spammeurs, vous devez activer Javascript pour la voir.