Four river turbines are being installed in the Rhône River, in the city of Caluire et Cuire, near Lyon, France, in a world’s first project led by the HydroQuest-Hydrowatt Group.
Currently assembled at the Lyon Edouard Herriot harbor, the turbines will be transported by waterway then installed and submerged in the Rhône over the course of October, for connection and commission before the end of the year.
This turbine park will be able to produce 1 Gigawatt-hour of electricity per year, equal to the average annual consumption of about 400 households and saving 300 tons in CO2 emissions per year. It has an installed power potential of 320KW.
This project confirms the engagement of Voies navigables de France (VNF) in the deployment of renewable energies on its public river domain. In 2015 VNF launched a study on the potential of the Rhône River, and then launched a call-for projects for “turbine farms” to run for around 18 years on a site located before the bridge Poincaré, between the Park de la Feyssine, on the municipality of Villeurbanne and the Park de Saint-Clair, on the municipality of Caluire et Cuire.
This turbine farm follows other projects in real conditions already realized by HydroQuest, in particular in Orléans (France) on the Loire River.
The project is financed by Hydrowatt, HydroQuest, and the Triodos bank. It is supported by Europe, by the intervention of the Region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
