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A decisive step has been taken by the French Society NENUPHAR in the future manufacture of vertical axis floating wind turbine VERTIWIND. Idinvest Partners (formerly AGF Private Equity) a partner is involved in the project a commitment to invest 3 million euro to accelerate the development of the first floating wind turbine at sea of a particular type. After four years of hard work, Charles and Frederick Silvert Smadja, the two creators of the new company associated Lille Waterlily, have managed their entry into the big league. I have but one word: Bravo! Their technology has indeed floating all the assets necessary to help raise even a little more obstacles to the development of offshore wind power in France. Unlike traditional wind turbines, it is capable of floating on the high seas, where the funds reach up to 200 meters and second asset, the first fully independent, they are also better able to capture wind energy with their blades arranged vertically and not so traditional.

The project Vertiwind Water Lily, already well known to readers of this blog and who was running for Fund support research demonstrator screened by ADEME last June, already has considerable support from Technip for the design and manufacture floats upon which the generator and blades, but also support of EDF France, Seal Engineering (a subsidiary of Technip), Bureau Veritas and the Ecole des Arts et Metiers ParisTech.

For the past three months, a 0.5-scale prototype is being tested on the site of the Careers Boulogne. Built in the laboratories of the Ecole des Arts et Métiers de Lille, has a power of 35 kW. With funds Idinvest Partners Waterlily will be able to manufacture and test a model-size, first on land then Wed If all goes as planned, the first commercial achievements should be born in the Mediterranean Sea and in England and Scotland, once the technology is proven. I recalled the main technical characteristics of this wind turbine floating French already described in previous articles:

- 90 meters high against more than 100 meters for traditional offshore wind

- A waterline requiring only a shallow draft, a dozen meters, which makes its tow from the land where it fully assembled and equipped, the less complex.

- Vertical blades, which rotate around a vertical axis itself as a tourniquet to ride

- A rotation speed of the wind, which varies depending on the wind through an electronic system of enslavement removing any risk of vibration of the blades.

Charles Smadja said: “The handling of this wind turbine has nothing to do with large projects required for assembly of wind turbines at sea that weight 200 tons. I would add that performance against the wind proved identical and they might be even higher very quickly.”

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