HydroQuest

HydroQuest SAS is a French developer of vertical-axis turbines, generating electricity from river and tidal currents.

HydroQuest and other partners are developing the 17.5 MW FloWatt project, comprising seven tidal stream turbines, expected to be built by 2027.

[5] In 2013, HydroQuest installed a turbine in the Oyapock river in French Guiana, powering the 200 inhabitants of the Camopi village previously relying on a diesel generator.

[1][6] The company also tested a 40 kW HydroQuest 1.40 in the Loire river in Orléans in late 2014, connecting it to the French electricity grid in September 2015.

Each unit is 21 m tall, 26 m wide with a pair of three-bladed turbines mounted on a vertical shaft either side of a central structure.

[15] The Windstaller Alliance, a joint venture between Norwegian companies Aker Solutions, DeepOcean and Solstad Offshore, was contracted to undertake a front-end engineering design for the subsea power systems of the FloWatt project.

[18] In October 2024, it was announced that HydroQuest and Normandie Hydroliennes had been awarded €51m between them from the European Union's Innovation Fund to develop 29 MW of tidal stream capacity at Raz Blanchard.