In March 2012, “France Energies Marines” was awarded at a call for tenders issued by the French government as an “Institute in carbon-free energies”. This gives the key-players of the French Marine Renewable Energies (MRE) branch the opportunity to set up a dedicated research institute namely devoted to: off-shore wind, wave, current, and ocean thermal energy conversion. With multidisciplinary teams coming from both public and private backgrounds, the scope of this new institute covers: Research and Development (R&D), tackling technological as well as environmental and societal issues; a resource and training centre; and the development of sea-trial test sites for the various MRE technologies. France Energies Marines also coordinates and facilitates access to other testing facilities such as tanks and test-benches.
France Energies Marines is now operational with the executive team appointed, first R&D projects launched and test sites development in progress. Indeed, 5 sea-trial sites are being set-up and will run by 2012/2013 for the most advanced ones. Bringing both investment funding and operational teams, France Energies Marines will also develop and implement protocols and instrumentation systems which guarantee both the quality and consistency of measurements and results obtained.
