A great moment for Brittany to host the 8th edition of the largest international event dedicated to floating wind turbines, FOWT. This opportunity made it possible to promote Breton know-how, by being directly at the heart of local projects. Back on this edition like no other.
Rising frequency
FOWT is THE annual meeting of floating wind where all the biggest international players in this technology meet. These are 3 days of conferences, led by the world’s leading experts. Special features this year: the event was organized in Brittany in Saint-Malo (Palais du Grand Large), an ideal opportunity to highlight Breton actors and EMR projects.
What a success! 930 participants present donated 850 physically, from 24 different countries, more than 1,500 BtoB appointments… So many delegates who were able to appreciate the program proposed by the organizers of the event but also the highlights organized by Bretagne Ocean Power.
Brittany in the heart of FOWT
Bretagne Ocean Power took advantage of this local welcome to highlight the players in the sector:
For the 1st time, the stand of the regions involved in floating wind power, shared with the Pays de la Loire, Occitanie and Sud-PACA regions, welcomed the supply chains of the territories. Nearly, twenty Breton companies were able to exhibit their know-how and be in direct contact with the participants in the event:
Presentation of the Exhibiting Breton Companies
“The stand, made of raw wood, was beautiful, suitable and conducive to exchange. There were a lot of qualified people. We leave satisfied.?” mentioned one of the exhibiting companies.
An exhibition on land and afloat
On the esplanade facing the Palais du Grand Large, pieces currently manufactured by Navantia and Windar on the Port of Brest for the Ailes Marines park were exhibited Around, a visual exhibition showed the EMR projects underway in Brittany, the assets of the territory in terms of infrastructure and specific know-how.
Docked at the dock a few meters away, 4 boats dedicated to marine energies were ready to receive visits and demonstrate their functions:
- The TSM Windcat 49, dedicated to the transfer of personnel
- The TSM Ouessant equipped with a loading capacity of +120t, cranes and towing winches.
- The Sterenn Glaz used in R&D missions
- The CESAME (Ecole Nationale Supérieure Maritime), equipped with a fire simulator
The company Neotek,in partnership with RTSYS also presented its assistant NemoSens.
Visits to breton places dedicated to MRE
Bretagne Ocean Power also allowed French and international delegates to directly access Breton expertise by offering them several visits to specific places:
- The Rance tidal power plant in partnership with EDF, and the maritime safety training center of the Ecole Nationale Supérieur Maritime (Saint-Malo).
“I was impressed by the control room, which has remained as it has been since the construction of the dam (commissioned in 1966). In the end, there is very little digital! I do not expect that… “ said one of the delegates when he got off the bus after visiting the Rance dam.
“The ENSM, in the running to obtain the Global Wind Organisation label, has all the assets to obtain certification. We can only wish it to them! This visit is interesting because we can consider training locally our teams of maintenance technicians, who will soon be mobilized on the commercial parks” launched another.
- The EMR terminal of the port of Brest and the workshops of Navantia and Windar, as well as the IFREMER test site in Sainte-Anne du Porzic.
“We were able to discover in Brest all the potential of the port as well as the actors currently mobilized on the Marine Wings project” confided to us an American congressman.
And special mention for the speakers “at the top! Clear and available, they embarked us on their projects with passion!?».
These visits, which marked the spirits, allowed the visitors, French and foreigners, to consider their projects with Breton support, especially the candidates for the AO Bretagne Sud.
Presentation of the places visited
The representatives of the 4 partner regions gathered
The 4 partner regions of the event, Brittany represented by its President Loïc Chesnais-Girard, Occitania embodied by Christophe Manas President of the Mediterranean Commission of the Occitanie region, the Pays de la Loire whose Claire Hugues Vice-President delegate for maritime affairs of the Pays de la Loire region had made the trip, the South-PACA region represented by Anne Claudius Petit, President of the commission “Energy transition waste strategy and air quality” had organized an evening to mark once again their collective commitment and support for floating wind technology.
The opportunity for L. Chesnais-Girard to emphasize the importance of the climate issue and partnerships between “State, communities and companies to gain in performance”. “The development of marine energy capacities in Europe and France will undoubtedly make it possible to create jobs. The transition must not lead to the logic of competition between our territories to attract investors and industrialists. We are therefore working for cooperation between our regions and the State for balanced planning. Because thedevelopment of marine energies and in particular floating wind turbines is not only an industrial issue. It is much more than that. It means acting to save the climate while preserving the comfort of life of our fellow citizens thanks to energy whose cost is constantly decreasing.?We believe in it. »
And after?
FOWT’s organizing committee, composed of the Pôle Mer Méditerranée and France Energie Eolienne, is already working hard to make the 2022 edition an even greater success. The event will be back in the south of France, in Montpellier, from 16 to 18 May 2022. In the meantime, international manufacturers, and candidates for the South Brittany Call for Tenders in particular, are leaving with the vision of a strong and already validated commitment from Breton players. Contactshave been made, and 2022 should make it possible to concretize a good part of them.
