France will announce the results of the call for expressions of interest to develop floating offshore wind projects in July 2016, Ségolène Royal, the French Minister for Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, said.
The quality and the number of applications received under the tender reflect the dynamism of the sector and have led the government to potentially go over EUR 150 million budget initially set aside to support the winning bids, opening up a possibility for more projects in the future, according to Minister Royal.
Minister Royal hopes that the funding mechanism will allow the projects to achieve a rapid pace of development and to quickly reach operational stage.
France’s Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME) issued the call for floating wind project proposals in August 2015. The floating wind farms are to have three to six turbines, with turbines having a capacity of at least 5 MW.
The call identified four areas as the most favourable for the development of floating wind farms: off the island of Groix, off the town of Gruissan, off Faraman lighthouse, and Leucate in the Gulf of Lion.
In total, five developers have reportedly submitted a total of eight bids within the call for proposals.
Engie, EDP Renewables, Caisse des Dépôts and Eiffage submitted a bid to build a pilot floating wind farm of up to 36MW in capacity at the Leucate site at the beginning of April.
By mid-April, Eolfi Offshore France, a joint venture between Eolfi and CGN European Energy Company, submitted a proposal to ADEME for the construction of a floating wind farm off the island of Groix, comprising up to six 6MW Haliade offshore wind turbines.
Apart from the island of Groix, Eolfi Offshore France has reportedly submitted bids for floating farms off Leucate and Faraman lighthouse.
Quadran is said to be interested in the Leucate and the Gruissan site, with Arkoila submitting a bid for the latter as well.
EDF Energies Nouvelles is reportedly interested in developing a floating wind farm off Faraman.
Offshore WIND Staff