Created on 21st March 2023, the OPEN-C Foundation, Europe’s largest offshore testing centre entirely dedicated to marine renewable energy (MRE), held its first board of governors meeting on 18th April 2023. On this occasion, Frédéric Moncany de Saint-Aignan was elected President of the Foundation’s Board of Governors. On his proposal, the Board of Governors appointed Bertrand Alessandrini as the Foundation’s CEO.
Bertrand Alessandrini is recognised as one of the leading specialists in marine engineering. An engineer from Centrale Lyon (1989), with a PhD from Centrale Nantes (1993), qualified to supervise research (2007) and specialist in ocean engineering and numerical simulation, he began his career in a young start-up (Sirehna, 1990), before focusing fully on research.
After a stint at Berkeley (University of California) as a visiting researcher (2000), he moved to Nantes with the ambition of setting up and managing several research teams. In 2007, he created SEM-REV at Centrale Nantes, an offshore test site connected to the national grid, to test Marine Renewable Energy prototypes, including the first French offshore wind turbine, FLOATGEN (BW Idéol). At the same time, he created 3 startups based on his research work: Hydrocean, Innosea and NextFlow Software.
Recognised for his qualities, Bertrand Alessandrini was appointed Director of Development at Centrale Nantes in 2012, where he coordinates the laboratories' development and innovation activities. Since 2020, he has been in charge of the national project for the structuring and development of offshore wind and marine renewable energy test sites, which he is currently overseeing under the OPEN-C Foundation. Bertrand Alessandrini is now in charge of structuring, developing and coordinating the 5 MRE test sites spread over the national coastline (i.e. approximately €400 M of projects over 10 years).
Bertrand Alessandrini
OPEN-C Foundation CEO
Frédéric Moncany de Saint Aignan
President of the OPEN-C Foundation's Board of Governors
According to Frédéric Moncany de Saint-Aignan, President of the OPEN-C Foundation and President of the French Maritime Cluster :
With a Board of Governors and a CEO who has supported this project from its original idea, the OPEN-C Foundation is now operational to carry out its main ambition to contribute as a European leader to the energy transition through innovation and offshore testing in the fields of floating wind and Marine Renewable Energies. It is a source of great pride to be part of this new collective adventure that explores all the possibilities that the field of marine renewable energies offers us.
