France unveils plans for 9GW offshore wind across four zones

On Friday (18 October) the energy ministry said four new offshore wind zones would be included in the planned AO10 tender. 

The tender will include one zone for fixed-bottom wind – featuring two projects of 2GW each – in the English Channel, plus three additional zones for floating wind: a 1.2-2GW area in the North Atlantic off the coast of Brittany, a 1.2GW area in the Atlantic off the coast of Gascony, and a 2GW area in the Gulf of Lyon in the Mediterranean. 

The plans will contribute to France’s target of installing 18GW of offshore wind by 2035 and 45GW by 2050, according to energy minister Olga Givernet. It is unclear when the AO10 tender is due to be held.

Florian Merlet, a senior offshore wind engineer and ports consultant with offshore wind and grid consultancy Kongstein, told Windpower Monthly the tender will likely follow the structure laid out in France’s previous offshore wind tenders. 

“The full details will be revealed once they open the tenders in the coming months. I can only assume that it will be like the previous tenders [with] offtake agreements with a price per megawatt hour, and grid connection taken care of by the national transmissions systems operator RTE.”

Merlet pointed out that the tender specifications included a number of obligations for winning bidders to reduce environmental and ecological impacts, compensate and coexist with impacted fishing communities, and “promote social and territorial development”. 

Floating offshore wind remains in its infancy around the world, but France began the process of adding the technology to its energy mix earlier this year. 

Belgian renewables developer Elicio and German counterpart BayWa won[1] the rights to develop a 250MW floating project off the south of Brittany during an auction in May with a bid of €86.45/MWh. 

France’s renewable energy trade association, SER, welcomed the proposals and urged their swift implementation. 

“The maritime planning presented today [18 October] is a very important first step, and the announcement of an ambitious multi-site call for tenders will mobilise all the players in the value chain. We welcome this progress, and now wish to work with the government to build a precise and rhythmic schedule for future calls for tenders,” said Jules Nyssen, the president of SER. 

France currently has 993MW of operational offshore wind capacity, according to Windpower Intelligence[2], the research and data division of Windpower Monthly.

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