Sabella

About Sabella

Sabella SAS was a French developer and manufacturer of tidal stream turbines, founded in 2008 and based in Quimper, Brittany. The company's genesis dates back to 2000, with the founding of Hydrohélix Énergies by Jean-François Daviau. After 25 years in the oil industry, Daviau transitioned to renewable energy, creating a consortium in 2007 that led to the formation of Sabella SAS the following year. Fanch Le Bris, with a background in high-tech project management at EADS, Thales, and DCNS, joined as CEO in 2014.

The company focused on providing turnkey energy solutions for remote and off-grid areas, such as islands and isolated communities, positioning its technology as a sustainable alternative to diesel-based power generation. Its business model centered on a "Fuel-Free Island" strategy, developing hybrid renewable energy systems combining tidal power with solar, wind, and energy storage. Sabella's core product was a range of scalable tidal turbines (100 kW to 2 MW) featuring a horizontal axis rotor mounted on a gravity-based structure that sits on the seabed. A key design philosophy was the combination of simplicity and ruggedness to ensure reliability in harsh marine environments.

Sabella achieved several significant milestones. In 2008, it launched the D03, the first tidal turbine connected to the French grid, in the Odet Estuary. This was followed by the deployment of the full-scale, 1-MW D10 demonstrator in the Fromveur Passage off Ushant Island in 2015, which supplied electricity to the island's 800 inhabitants. By late 2023, the D10 turbine was generating over 25% of Ushant's electricity, at times exceeding 50% during spring tides. The company also engaged in projects like PHARES, in collaboration with Akuo Energy, to install a small tidal array coupled with other renewables for Ushant, and the TIGER project to deploy turbines in the Gulf of Morbihan. Despite its technological successes, Sabella faced financial difficulties and was placed into receivership in October 2023, ultimately being liquidated in January 2024. The company's assets were acquired by Entech, while its flagship D10 turbine was taken over by the UK-based Inyanga Marine Energy Group, which continues to operate it.