Good Practice Project
The Ria d’Etel area has over 50 oyster farms, which produce 3 000 tons of oysters a year. But the industry is still highly dependent on fossil fuels and consumes over 60 000 litres of oil a year to move oyster barges around, as well as using electricity to power water pumps and sorting engines.
Local oyster farmers identified reducing the consumption of these non-renewable energies, and using local sustainable resources, as one of the main priorities for the Ria d’Etel. On their recommendation, the Chantier Bretagne Sud (CBS), a shipyard based in Belz on the Etel estuary, decided to propose the ERSEO (Energies Renouvelables au Service des Exploitations Ostréicoles) project to the FLAG, so that it could study and design new eco-friendly energy options. The project had the following goals:
to prove how energy can be produced by water turbines, by developing and testing them on site;
to quantify the energy needs of local oyster farms through energy audits;
to adapt and install these turbines in oyster farms;
to build a solar pilot boat and a pier fitted with an electric charging station, fed by solar and tidal power. This boat would be used by all local oyster farmers.
The project aims to show that these local resources are a real opportunity for the oyster sector, which is important for the area and needs access to large quantities of energy.
The project has been very well received by the sector and many shellfish farmers are now interested in carrying out energy audits and studies on alternative energy sources. To date, the project has already led to several projects. Here are some of them:
Energy transition will be a key action for every FLAG in the coming period, in line with the European Green Deal. This transition depends on both gaining the skills needed to generate energy locally and on accessing renewable resources. Water turbines and solar panels have very low impacts on the ground and can be used to power many aspects of fish farming, and particularly freezers. Such mechanisms can be especially useful in building energy security in islands and regions where the electricity grid is sparse.
Lessons: When designing new energy generation tools, direct contact with end-users is key, as this project has shown. The participatory process of creating and implementing a new technology with grassroots community involvement arouses interesting discussions and promotes general acceptability. This needs a lot of time to carry out, but it is necessary, and it gives excellent results.
Contribution to CLLD objective: (c) enhancing and capitalising on the environmental assets of the fisheries and aquaculture areas, including operations to mitigate climate change.
Total project cost | €255 932 |
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FLAG grant |
€255 932
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Beneficiary contribution |
€63 983 |
Timeframe of implementation | From Jan 2020 to Aug 2021 |
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Sea Basins |
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