Marine energy and mineral resources

• Offshore wind power installed or floating
• Wave energy
• Tidal energy
• Tidal power (energy from ocean currents)
• Ocean thermal (energy which exploits the temperature difference between the surface and great depth)
• Osmotic (uses the salinity gradient at the mouth of rivers)
• Photovoltaics at sea

For the field of mineral resources, the scope considers infrastructure, products and services linked to the exploration of the deep seabed and associated mineral resources (hydrothermal polymetallic nodules), particularly in the deep sea. Innovation must make it possible to build an exploration sector with different links in the value chain which are:

• Underwater robotics for sampling;
• Infrastructure and vectors serving observation;
• Characterisation and control of the seabed.

Pôle Mer Méditerranée will continue its action in the field of marine energy and mineral resources, around 3 issues:

• The exploration and exploitation of resources at sea and the security of their production;
• The structuring and sustainability of industrial sectors;
• Support for the development of co-activities.

For Marine Renewable Energies, the Sud and Occitanie regions have numerous skills linked to offshore activities, embodied by a dynamic and internationally recognised fabric:

• Companies and research institutes, such as ITE France Energies Marines of which PMM is a founding member;
• Energy specialists: EDF-EN, Ocean Wind, QAIR, ENBW Valeco, Shell Eolfi…
• Shipbuilding specialists looking for diversification, such as Eiffage.

All of these players bring an undeniable advantage to the projects carried out in these territories.

The wind potential represented by the Gulf of Lion is a market opportunity for members of the Cluster wishing to participate in the development of the national sector. To respond to the AO6 Mediterranean, two commercial parks, with a combined power of 250 MW each, should be installed by 2030. The commissioning of three pilot farm projects is also planned for the end of 2023-beginning of 2024 on the Mediterranean coast, totalling 85.2 MW.

A structured sector in the southern region and Occitanie

With the help of the French government, local authorities and major players in the sector, PMM coordinates the structuring and development of the sector, through:

• The organisation of annual regional and national meetings (scientific, innovation & business). The Cluster is also co-founder of Rencontres Scientifiques et Technologiques de l’Éolien Offshore Flottant created in 2013, which became FOWT in 2015 and today the largest global event dedicated to floating offshore wind with more than 1,400 participants from 30 countries;
• Collective approaches for the economic sector of floating offshore wind power in the Sud and Occitanie regions: mapping of the territorial value chain of the sector, creation of two online professional directories referencing the players in floating offshore wind power in the Sud Region with SUDEOLE, and in Occitanie with Wind’occ.