SER: France Should Set More Ambitious Offshore Wind Targets

The Syndicat des Energies Renouvelables (SER), a French renewables lobby, will ask for more ambitious targets for offshore wind capacity planned post-2023 during the review of the country’s new energy investment plan scheduled for Friday, 15 April.

The French government’s plan calls for the development of 3GW of offshore wind capacity by 2023, with further 3GW in the pipeline post-2023.

But France should aim for 12GW of offshore wind capacity to be installed after 2023, Jean-Louis Bal, SER’s president, told Reuters.

Bal said that the French government wants to see the offshore wind becoming cheaper, but that the lower costs can only come with more high-volume projects.

The government will submit its plan to the Conseil Superieur de l’Energie (CSE) for review and recommendations, some or all of which could be included in the country’s new energy transition law which sets a target of 40% of the energy production in France coming from renewables by 2030.

The consultations on the new energy plan come days after France issued a third offshore wind call for tenders for areas off Dunkerque.

France previously held two tenders for offshore wind: one in 2011, which allowed the allocation of four zones off the Fécamp, Courseulles-sur-Mer, Saint-Brieuc and Saint-Nazaire, with a total capacity of nearly 2GW; the other in 2013, for the installation of 1GW of capacity spread across two areas off Tréport and the islands of Yeu and Noirmoutier.

Offshore WIND Staff