A former technical officer and merchant navy captain, Olivier JUIN served on a wide range of merchant vessels, including supertankers, dredgers, buoy tenders and car ferries. He gained experience in the operation and maintenance of commercial vessels before moving on to the operation of high-power thermal and electrical installations within the EDF Group.

Originally from the Cotentin peninsula, facing the Alderney Race — known in France as the Raz Blanchard — he naturally developed an interest in electricity generation from Marine Renewable Energy (MRE).

He was therefore struck by the fact that, despite many public announcements, no large-scale project for harnessing tidal currents has yet come to fruition.

This is particularly true in the Alderney Race / Raz Blanchard area, where the recoverable tidal energy potential is estimated to be equivalent to the output of at least two nuclear reactors.

Beyond the Alderney Race / Raz Blanchard alone, France’s tidal energy potential should also be considered across a set of complementary sites, from the Raz de Sein in Brittany to Cape Barfleur in Normandy. The time shift between tidal currents in these areas could help optimise the overall production profile by partly smoothing the variations specific to each site. This approach calls for thinking not only in terms of local installed capacity, but also as a coordinated network of marine energy production sites.