Guillaume Gréau, HydroQuest's Head of Business Development is the 2025 recipient of the Vi Maris award. The announcement of this prestigious industry award was made during the OEE2025 Conference & Exhibition in Brussels, Belgium. Vi Maris, meaning power of the sea', is an industry award established by Ocean Energy Europe (OEE), which recognizes the outstanding contribution of an individual to the ocean energy sector.
Guillaume began his career as a naval officer, later joining CMN (Constructions Mecaniques de Normandie). He studied engineering and holds a master's degree in engineering and an MBA. He is currently one of two co-presidents of Ocean Energy Europe and the titular representative for Normandy in France's Syndicat des énergies renouvelables.
Guillaume joined HydroQuest in 2015 as CMN became one of the company's key shareholders. In the past 10 years he helped develop several projects, establishing HydroQuest as one of the leading tidal companies. The OceanQuest turbine, developed and optimised by HydroQuest over 15 years, is designed to withstand harsh tidal conditions, operating efficiently in high-speed, turbulent currents. In 2028, six OceanQuest turbines will be installed as part of the Flowatt project, a 17MW tidal farm at Le Raz Blanchard, which will operate for 20 years.
Guillaume Gréau said, I am deeply touched and honoured to receive this year's Vi Maris Award! It has been more than 10 years since I embarked on the adventure - because that's what it is - of developing tidal stream energy with the extraordinary team at HydroQuest and, more broadly, with the French Renewable Energy Union (SER) and Ocean Energy Europe, working to support all forms of marine energies. In recent years, thanks to the proven performance of many of our European technology developers, marine energy has finally become politically credible enough to take its rightful place in our future energy mix. Vi maris means « the power of the sea ». This power of the sea, through waves and tidal currents, is inexhaustible and present on our coasts every day of the year. No doubt ocean energy will be the European's symbol of our energy sovereignty, with carbon-free and competitive electricity produced with industrial large-scale deployments to come.'
Rémi Gruet, Ocean Energy Europe CEO, said: Guillaume has been a pillar of the ocean energy sector for the last 10 years and has been instrumental in the development of the French projects and market. As one of the main architects of the Flowatt project, he pushed for renewed support for tidal in France, the country with the best resource in the EU. As Co-President of Ocean Energy Europe, he has helped guide the sector's activities on the path to industrialisation. Congratulations Guillaume!'
