The large-scale deployment of floating horizontal axis wind turbines (Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine HAWT, or axial flow wind turbines) is limited by their production cost plus the prevention of their risk of tipping over. Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) turbines provide easy access to the controls and generator and offer better stability, but these devices have a lower efficiency than axial flow turbines. The EFL technology (Eoliennes Flottantes Legi) is based on a series of patents filed by researchers from the laboratory (Achard, Barre, Balarac, Maurice, MOST and Energétique teams) and which have enabled a technological breakthrough for VAWTs, in terms of the wind turbine module and the floating structure. In recent years, proof of concept has accumulated for different generations of LFE systems, with tests in wind tunnels (Ensma) and in the Ifremer basin in Brest. Thus, in 2018, Hydroquest purchased the licenses of the patents corresponding to this new technology to use the OWLWIND (EFL) design on hydro turbines as well as to develop a floating demonstrator for use in offshore floating wind turbines.
