Archives des News - GEPS Techno

Producing hydrogen at sea: impossible is not GEPS

Jean-Luc Longeroche — Thu, 06 Oct 2022 12:54:07 +0000

On September 22, 2022, we inaugurated with the company Lhyfe the first hydrogen production platform in the world. A success of which we are all proud !

Lhyfe was indeed seeking to demonstrate that it is possible to produce hydrogen at sea. Initially, they wanted to test the behavior of a production unit in an environment subject to swell accelerations.

► The need : deploy the plant at sea on a system that is both sensitive to the conditions of the high seas but also sufficiently reliable and robust to limit the risk.

Why did Lhyfe choose the Wavegem plateform and Geps Techno ?

Because the platform and its anchoring have been sized by the GEPS teams to withstand the conditions of this exposed offshore site
Because a first sea trial campaign lasting more than 1 year on this same site showed that the system was very well adapted and that the hydrodynamic behavior of the platform was in line with the predictions of the engineers of GEPS techno
Because the platform was designed from the start to be remotely controllable, even in the event of a power blackout
Because its modularity makes it possible to envisage numerous arrangements of equipment on deck.

Geps Techno expertise at the service of blue groth

This project was a good way for the GEPS Techno teams to enrich and demonstrate once again their expertise. That is: the integration and deployment of complex equipment, at sea, on autonomous floating structures.”We are used to our customers asking us to do the impossible at the four corners of the sea“, recalled Jean-Luc Longeroche on Inauguration Day. As for the Dikwe project (breakwater for energy recovery with the Legendre group), it is a crossroads: Lhyfe needed to get to sea quickly, GEPS Techno enabled him to accomplish this in order to accomplish this feat»Currently installed at the quay in Saint Nazaire, the Sealhyfe project will join the Sem-Rev site off Le Croisic in the spring of 2023 to connect to the FLOATGEN floating wind farm.

The sea, the future of renewable energies ?

As Jean-Luc Longeroche explained to Newstalk Energie in August 2022, “we will see renewable energies move towards the sea, which will limit conflicts of use in relation to land. Despite the resitance that still exists, these are industrial solutions that are evolving very quickly, with a cost that is being reduced, and which are set to take an important place. Floating wind turbines, in particular, will make it possible to move further away from the land and therefore to have a more regular source of wind while limiting the visual impact from the coast. »

To learn more :

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Why does GEPS Techno now refers as an Innovation Lab?

Mathilde Jouffineau — Thu, 04 Aug 2022 10:41:32 +0000

10 years of R&D, a portfolio of technological bricks, successful partnerships with majors in their sectors such as Meta, Groupe Legendre or Lhyfe, GEPS Techno has proven many times its ability to conduct R&D projects from design to tests at sea and to solve off-grid energy needs for the Blue Economy. We hev now grown up to become Innovation Lab.
GEPS Techno is an Innovation Lab. What do these vague words mean for us? In this article, we “try” to explain in a clear (?) and (at least) synthetic manner who we are…

The concept : The Blue Economy

The Blue Economy covers a wide range of markets and applications, both nearshore and deep offshore, with a tremendous number of players having their own constraints and objectives. However, they share some common challenges

- resilience to the marine environmen
- access to reliable energy and data
- energy autonomy

GEPS Techno's expertise

GEPS Techno has built-up its expertise around these subjects, with the ambition to broaden the possibilities for remote offshore monitoring, surveillance, communication and decarbonization. This scope is always expending as we continue to invest in new developments and ideas.

GEPS Techno’s ambition is to make things possible, not on the paper, but in real life. Some concrete examples?

- Improving the autonomy of offshore data collection buoys with wave power / now more than 7,000 days at sea for commercial applications
- Paving the way for the integration of larger equipment / the first autonomous buoy-based floating radar will be installed this year
- Enabling offshore hydrogen ambitions to materialize / the first offshore floating hydrogen plant pilot will produce soon…

It always starts with the question from a forward-thinking company. How do we recharge a subsea AUV in an energy desert? Can we power subsea internet cables from the ocean? Can we harvest local resources to decarbonize an Oil&Gas platform or a fish farm? How do we reduce the emissions induced by the offshore wind farm O&M activities? Etc.

The first call, the first email, the first discussion with GEPS Techno to share this challenge is the spark that ignites the engine of the Innovation Lab. There are no clients and suppliers but one single team. If needed, we can also propose to invite others to the team, i.e. friends from our eco-system that can bring additional bricks.

Sometimes we fail, but many times we win. In the Innovation Lab, we like drinking champagne with the other team’s members…

We are not just one of many engineering or technical consultancy companies with a clear scope defined who execute and deliver documents. We are an Innovation Lab; when we start, our clients ((future partners) hardly know exactly what they want. They have an idea, and they need our expertise and agility. We propose a phased approach (study, solution, service) adapted to their budget and schedule, with the perspective to deliver ultimately something they can use.

The Blue Growth has just started, and they are so many things to invent together. Let’s start now !

L’article Why does GEPS Techno now refers as an Innovation Lab? est apparu en premier sur GEPS Techno.

StabInSea, GEPS Techno’s new baby…

Mathilde Jouffineau — Thu, 04 Aug 2022 10:30:25 +0000

Since 2016, GEPS Techno develops and optimizes innovative passive anti-rolling tanks architectures for more comfort and operability at sea.
To date, around 30 ships are equipped with GEPS’ solutions.

GEPS can rely on its expertise in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and in-house numerical tools calculating the non-linearity of the water behaviour and the ship-to-tank/tank-to-ship coupling effects.

The performances of the system can be predicted quite accurately, and specific tank architectures can be explored without running new model tests.

StabInSea by GEPS Techno, a new brand for more visibility

In a context where comfort and operability is becoming predominant for the shipping industry, GEPS Techno wants to take a more visible position on the market to bring its services beyond it’s current clients portfolio.
For this reason, StabInSea was born.

Access to StabInSea’s website

StabInSea, a provider of solutions for naval architects and designers of offshore structures

StabInSea offers consulting services to ship designers at early stage of the project development:

We develop customized stabilization tank designs that fits with the ship architecture constraints
We calculate accurately the expected performances on the ship’s behaviour, enabling the verification of the specified operability
We can iterate the process to identify the most relevant configuration before the arrangement is frozen and transferred to the shipyard

StabInSea can support the ship designer and/or the shipyard during the model test if a seakeeping test is planned, and during the sea trials if special considerations regarding the stabilization performances are specified.

StabInSea can also design stabilization tanks for other offshore structures such as FPSOs, Floating Wind Turbines or even Fixed Wind Turbines nacelles.

L’article StabInSea, GEPS Techno’s new baby… est apparu en premier sur GEPS Techno.

Dikwe : 1st coastal dike to harvest wave energy

Mathilde Jouffineau — Thu, 04 Aug 2022 10:17:48 +0000

World premiere : GEPS Techno in a partnership with the Legendre Group and Ifremer, has managed to combine port protection and Marine Renewable Energy production

July 2022, after tank tests, a prototype of a positive-energy coastal dike is submerged for tests in the harbor of Brest for several months. The origin of this project: the Legendre Group, which commissioned GEPS Techno to harvest wave energy and integrate this device into a port dike. Ifremer supported the project by allowing trials in tanks and then at sea. Another example of the success of Innovation lab for blue economy!

How does a positive energy dike

The principle is to equip a coastal protection dike with a wave energy system, equipped with an oscillating flap activated by the waves. This allows to convert waves energy into sustainable and local electricity.
The 1/4 scale prototype measures almost 4.5m high and wide, and 6m deep. Installed on a fixed support, it is completely submerged at high tide. According to initial calculations, the device captures up to 60% of wave energy. It is equipped with sensors to measure the waves, the energy production and the resistance of the structure.

If it's a prototype, what is the project timeline ?

Initiated in 2020, the first phase of this project consisted in testing the process using a 1/15th scale prototype, immersed in Ifremer’s deep water wave tank in Brest. This step validated the design of the prototype and confirmed the first numerical calculations, with an estimate of up to 60% capture of wave energy.
The second stage consists of testing this new prototype on a quarter scale, this time on Ifremer’s in situ testing station in Sainte Anne-du-Portzic, near Brest from July 2022 for a few month.
The third stage of the project will consist of carrying out tests on a prototype four times larger: almost 20 m wide and high, in concrete this time, for a production estimated in the range of one megawatt. The construction of this full-size prototype is planned for 2023 for a launch in 2024, on a site in Brittany which remains to be defined.

Many opportunities for energy positive dikes

Producing renewable energy in ports opens up the possibility of :

Make a marina autonomous
Supply port industries in energy
Produce hydrogen with wave energy

To learn more

Carbone capture and storage
Newstank Energies interview

L’article Dikwe : 1st coastal dike to harvest wave energy est apparu en premier sur GEPS Techno.