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Renewable energy sector in India may soon witness new players as DCNS, a leading name in naval defence and ship building, is exploring opportunities in the country, especially in the maritime sector. The nearly 400-year-old company from France has also developed expertise in tidal, wave, ocean thermal, wind and floating wind turbines. “We have reached prototype stage in turbines. A 16-metre wide turbine to harness thermal energy from the ocean is ready with a generation capacity of 2 MW each. When connected, you can set up a 100-MW project,” Bernard Planchais, Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer of DCNS, said.
Oceans are source for two kinds of energy — thermal energy that converts sun’s energy trapped in waters besides energy produced from waves and tides. DCNS has also developed a floating wind turbine (Winflo) and its first MW version will be tested in western France by end of the year. The turbine can be installed in 50-100 metres depth and a 5-MW commercial turbine can be set up, Business Line reported.
“In India, Gujarat offers good potential and we would like to focus there. Presently, the cost of MW energy from these sources is higher than nuclear and lower than solar energy in France. Our efforts are directed to considerably lower the costs with continuous research efforts,” Mr Planchais said.
An estimated 8000 MW of energy from tidal projects could be harnessed from the Gulf of Cambay and Gulf of Kutch in Gujarat. Besides, Sunderbans area in West Bengal and a few other coastal areas also offer good scope for maritime renewable energy.
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