At the recent Thetis ocean energy conference in Brest, French naval contracting giant DCNS took to the dais to say it would have a 1MW prototype of its WinFlo floater concept, being developed with Nass&Wind, moored at the grid-connected SEM-REV wave and wind energy testing facility off Le Croisic on the Brittany peninsula by next year.

The aim is to eventually scale-up the concept, a two-bladed turbine set atop a triangular semisubmersible platform fixed to the seabed using catenary cables, to a 5MW version.

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