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Interview of the month: Xavier Rodarie
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Wednesday May 17th, 2017
The Floatgen project, the largest offshore wind turbine in France on which construction is soon due to be completed in the port of Saint-Nazaire, has won the Usine Nouvelle 2017 Renewable Energies Trophy for Energy Transition at the ceremony organised on Tuesday 16 May in the presence of Jean Jouzel, climatologist and former vice-president of GIEC.
The third edition of the Energy Transition Trophies has honoured the Floatgen offshore floating prototype wind turbine equipped with a floating foundation structure designed by the French specialist group Ideol and built by Bouygues Travaux Publics, in the port of Saint-Nazaire, which should be installed off the coast of Croisic on the SEM-REV test site operated by Centrale Nantes.
More than 80 % of the floating foundation’s concrete shell has already been constructed. The entire anchoring system has been built and shall be installed at the offshore SEM-REV site in June, before the prototype is brought into service by the end of 2017.
Floating wind turbines represent the future of offshore wind turbine production. These types of turbine enable the development of projects without any depth constraints and therefore far offshore, and without any visual impact, in the sites with the greatest wind speeds. Floatgen illustrates the reality of the emergence of this type of project.
Offshore wind turbines represent a very high-growth sector. Over 3,600 wind turbines are currently operational in the world, representing cumulative investments of EUR 65 billion since 2010.
This new industry has emerged worldwide, except in France, where there are currently no offshore wind turbines. The first of these will be Floatgen, a floating wind turbine.
Although France is lagging in terms of the traditional offshore wind turbines fixed on the seabed, it nonetheless enjoys a number of unique advantages as the international leader in the new floating wind turbine industry.
The solution developed and patented by Ideol (called Damping Pool®), which is perceived as being the most competitive in the market, marks a technological breakthrough in the offshore wind turbine market and opens up a wide range of potential projects to be developed globally. This technology has been selected by the French government to equip the first Mediterranean offshore windfarm project (Eolmed managed by the energy group Quadran) and has won export contracts in Japan, the UK and Ireland.
This is an entirely new approach to construction, a more ethical and sustainable one. It involves predicting changes in usage, and the reversibility of a building after construction The aim is to be able to change the building's purpose easily to accompany changes in lifestyle and in the regions themselves.
In June 2020, eight major French cities saw their municipal councils taken or held by a Green majority: Lyon, Strasbourg, Bordeaux, Grenoble, Tours, Annecy, Besançon and Poitiers. What do these green municipalities plan for the territories?
Creating this 6-hectare offshore space between two reserves that are marine protected areas (the underwater reserve of Larvotto and the Spélugues coral reef), illustrates the particular care given to respecting the site’s biodiversity and attention paid to impacts arising from the worksite.
Whether reimagining the tripod shape to move proudly towards the traditional shape of the closed island, stepping back from the street , using curves to provide a maximum of natural light or working with materials to create pleasant, social spaces, the research and design work done here at Be Issy by the architects from PCA Stream is intended to improve the lives of the occupants.
In February 2005, France adopted a law making it mandatory for cities to create a living environment adapted to people with disabilities by making urban areas accessible to all within 10 years. However, the additional time granted and the leniency shown due to difficulties cities faced in meeting the established deadlines have greatly brought down the initial goal.
Providing levers for attaining the goals of sustainable development, such is the ambition of Cities to Be. In concrete terms, this means pooling experiences, solutions and best practices, generating momentum among the territories, and persuading players of the building sector to commit to such goals. All in the aim of creating a denser, more resilient city that offers, quite simply, a pleasant way of life.
Xavier Rodarie, Development Manager for Regions and the Inclusive Economy, presents the social housing project initiated by Habitat Social as part of Action Tank Social & Business.
A positive health region is an attractive region that makes living together and growing old more enjoyable. Real estate developers play a key role in creating them! Provided that they seize the right opportunities!
The new Bercy, renamed AccorHotels Arena at the end of 2015, has completely changed after renovations by Bouygues Bâtiment Ile-de-France – Ouvrages Publics and Bouygues Energies & Services. Find out how we redefined this landmark building to better live together. The AccorHotels Arena has been open to the public for over six months, following its inauguration […]
