France Awards Tidal Energy Tenders to EDF-DCNS, GDF Suez

France has awarded tenders for two pilot tidal energy projects to two French consortia, one led by power utility EDF, the other by gas utility GDF Suez .

Energy industry experts estimate that France has Europe's second-biggest tidal energy potential after Britain.

EDF Energies Nouvelles, the renewable energy unit of 84 percent state-owned EDF, and Dublin-based marine turbine expert OpenHydro, a unit of 64 percent state-owned naval defence and energy group DCNS, said in a joint statement they had been selected to install seven 2 megawatt tidal turbines in Raz Blanchard, at the western tip of Normandy.

The turbines will have a combined capacity of 14 megawatt and will be connected to the power grid in 2018.

French engineering group Alstom said it and gas and power utility had been chosen to install four 1.4 megawatt tidal turbines with as well as an Alstom electrical subsea hub for the same site. The project is slated to begin in 2017 and is expected to operate for a period of 20 years.

In September 2013, French President Francois Hollande launched a tender for four pilot projects off the Normandy and Brittany coasts for a total capacity of 80 megawatts (MW) at a cost of 120 million euros.

He said that in the coming decade up to 3,000 megawatts could be installed of French coasts, the equivalent of three nuclear reactors.

The power in marine turbines comes from tidal currents which turn blades similar to ships' propellers. Unlike wind, the tides are predictable and the turbines's power output is constant.

Reporting by Geert De Clercq