SABELLA technological credo
Simplicity, reliability and ruggedness
The reference principles of technical simplicity and ruggedness lead to reinforce the reliability of the tidal stream turbine and substantially decrease the need for maintenance operations.
Based on the credo “simplicity, reliability, ruggedness”, tested with D03’s first trials and deeply rooted with the operation of the pre-commercial project D10, SABELLA’s technology fundamental features are:
- a horizontal axis turbine with fixed symmetrical blades and no yaw drive;
- a direct drive synchronous generator with permanent magnets, to avoid any wearing parts;
- an inboard conversion/transformation system that allows the mutualisation and transport of the electricity production of several turbines through a single export cable, connected to a subsea hub, a solution anticipating future tidal array configuration;
- a modular architecture that allows to retrieve only the upper part of the device (nacelle and rotor) for maintenance operations. The heavy gravity-based foundation remains on the seabed which consequently decreases the need for vessels with high lifting capacities.
Thanks to this simplicity and ruggedness motto, SABELA is able to reach three specific targets:
- investment cost cut;
- optimisation of the reliability of the device through the reduction of failure risks to extend the preventive maintenance frequency to 7 to 10 years;
- umaximisation of the availability of the tidal turbine energy production.
