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Six “Made In France” Innovations In Renewable Energy
New energies 14/04/2021

Six “Made In France” Innovations In Renewable Energy

A new generation of French innovators is helping boost the energy transition as well as the local economy.

Last year, Sunstyle International became the first company to produce photovoltaic tiles in France.

The “Made in France” label has long been a source of pride for the latest in luxury and gourmet products. Now, a new generation of innovators in French renewable energy are making sure their products are not only developed in France, but also produced domestically to spur job growth and showcase the potential of local manufacturing.

  1. Two researchers at the Centre de nanosciences et de nanotechnologies in Palaiseau created a solar cell that is one thousand times thinner than commercial silicon cells. The cell absorbs just as much light and has practical applications in mobile objects ranging from cars to drones.
    • Using a flexible polymer mold, Stéphane Colin and Andrea Cattoni first make the layer that the light will strike out of crystallines. These crystallines serve as semiconductors and absorb photons, or light particles. On the back, a mirror forms a nanoscopic grid that guides the photons into the center of the cell.
    • To overcome the smaller-sized cell, they created a trap so the light stays longer in the cell, designing specific angles to diffract at the most efficient levels. This process works for all rays on the light color spectrum.
    • The process has the potential to produce a cheaper cell for photovoltaic panels, which can be used to improve the systems of space satellites by both weighing less and being less sensitive to cosmic rays.1. Two researchers at the Centre de nanosciences et de nanotechnologies in Palaiseau created a solar cell that is one thousand times thinner than commercial silicon cells. The cell absorbs just as much light and has practical applications in mobile objects ranging from cars to drones.
    • Using a flexible polymer mold, Stéphane Colin and Andrea Cattoni first make the layer that the light will strike out of crystallines. These crystallines serve as semiconductors and absorb photons, or light particles. On the back, a mirror forms a nanoscopic grid that guides the photons into the center of the cell.
    • To overcome the smaller-sized cell, they created a trap so the light stays longer in the cell, designing specific angles to diffract at the most efficient levels. This process works for all rays on the light color spectrum.
    • The process has the potential to produce a cheaper cell for photovoltaic panels, which can be used to improve the systems of space satellites by both weighing less and being less sensitive to cosmic rays.

  2. Last year, Sunstyle International became the first company to produce photovoltaic tiles in France. These tiles are smaller than solar panels and integral to a structure’s roof design instead of an added component like solar panels.
    • The production is located in Châtellerault on the site of VMH Energies, which has manufactured solar power technologies since 2007. Sunstyle International began making these “sunstyle” tiles in October 2020 with a design inspired by the scales of a fish to allow water to flow naturally.
    • Sunstyle product manager Gabriel Delmer explained to the French public broadcaster FranceInfo that rather than having a standard tile, on which you put a fixing system and then solar panels: “We offer a single product that fulfills all the functions: waterproofing and production of renewable electricity.”
    • The company is currently producing 50 megawatts of electricity, with the goal of increasing to one gigawatt by 2025. With growing demand for alternative energy producers, VMH Energies has more than doubled its staff in the last two years, to 47 employees.

  3. In the central region of Ardennes, Helliogreen Technologies is manufacturing a hydroelectric power turbine with the potential to produce 450 to 500 MWh annually, enough to heat 100 homes. The turbine was made with a 3D printer and can be installed in dams across France and beyond without disturbing flora and fauna.
    • The design is based on the Archimedean screw, in which water (or other materials) are pumped through a pipe in a screw-shaped motion. The process is believed to date back at least as far to as ancient Greece.
    • Helliogreen Technologies has taken the concept even farther with its 2.65 meter diameter cast iron screw that weighs 30 tons. The screw is driven by the force of the water, turning a generator that produces energy.
    • According to Renaud Mignolet, president of Helliogreen Technologies, the screw has about 25% more water volume than a traditional screw, meaning greater production capacity. “There are several screws in one, it is as if there were three in one! We call that a multi-thread screw. A multi-thread geometry, it allows to increase the volume of turbined water, compared to a conventional screw of the same diameter,” Mignolet tells Franceinfo.

  4. Since 2014, Mascara Renewable Water has been developing state-of-the-art solar-powered mini-stations to desalinate water in areas of the world most threatened by increasing water scarcity. These devices provide a less disruptive way to turn seawater (which represents 98% of the Earth’s water) into a potable resource.
    • Mascara Renewable Water’s president, Marc Vergnet, is an engineer and former wind turbine manufacturer who invented a hydraulic pump now used in more than 100,000 African villages. The production facility, based in Chartres, has placed six Osmosun stations around the world in isolated places, often islands, where there is little or no access to drinking water.
    • The Osmosun consists of a series of membranes that conduct water filtration through a process of reverse osmosis. As L’Usine Nouvelle reports, the speed of the operation varies based on changes in sunlight, regulating the flow of treated water.
    • Compared to other desalination machines that are energy intensive and disruptive to the natural world, Osmosun has a minimal environmental impact. The largest installation, on the Island of Rodrigue (part of the Republic of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean), provides the freshwater network with 240 m3 of water a day.

  5. NW Joules, a subsidiary of NW Groupe, has become the French leader in electric energy storage, with plans to triple its storage to 185 MW by this coming November. Its J Box, a compact storage system, contains a large number of batteries to power RTE, France’s electricity transmission system operator, along with the potential to be used in electric vehicles.
    • In 2007, Jean-Christophe Kerdelhué, a renewable energy specialist, founded NW Groupe, which has created overseas wind and solar projects. Recognizing that storage will be a central issue in the renewable energy transition, NW Groupe developed the J Box with a sophisticated digital control and smaller size to economize land space.
    • One of the first non-experimental storage facilities approved by the RTE and connected to its electricity grid, the J Box consists of lithium-ion batteries. As Les Echos reports, electricity is extracted and then reinjected at specific times in order to avoid a blackout and preserve the network’s consumption/production balance.
    • With 50 boxes currently in operation, NW Jules’s expansion includes 250 J Boxes in France by the end of 2022 while also growing in other parts of Europe to become a major player in the region.

  6. HySiLabs in Aix-en-Provence is finding solutions for the transportation of hydrogen, by converting the carbon-free molecule into a liquid. When used as a fuel, hydrogen only emits water, but given its highly flammable nature, expensive infrastructure has traditionally been needed to transport it.
    • Vincent Lôme, a doctoral student, discovered a chemical reaction by chance that releases a hydrogen molecule. With biologist, Pierre-Emmanuel Casanova, Lôme developed a process to transport seven times more hydrogen than in its gaseous form.
    • As Casanova tells Les Echos: “Concretely, we graft molecules of hydrogen onto molecules of silicon, one of the most present substances in the Earth's crust. Then we transport this silicon hydride in liquid form. Once it has arrived at its destination, we have developed a chemical reaction that instantly releases hydrogen from silicon, using water and a catalyst made of non-rare and non-hazardous materials.”
    • Put in an environmentally-friendly carrier, the hydrogen can be stored in conventional trucks and pipelines for weeks and even months, compared to just days for the gas form.


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