EDF & Maple Power pick BW Ideol design for half-gigawatt French floating wind bid

French-Canadian consortium and technology outfit to cooperate on design of floating foundations for two 250MW sites in the Mediterranean

EDF Renewables and the Maple Power joint venture between Canada’s Enbridge and CPP Investments have signed an agreement with BW Ideol to cooperate on the design of floating wind foundations for the upcoming French floating wind tender (AO6).

The candidates have already submitted their pre-selection filing for the two sites with 250MW capacity each in the Mediterranean that should produce enough power for one million French consumers.

“This second technological collaboration with the teams of EDF Renouvelables and Maple Power – after an initial cooperation within the framework of the Bretagne Sud call for tenders (AO5) – attests to the complementarity of our respective teams and the excellent collaboration between them,” BW Ideol chief executive Paul de la Guérivière said.

“BW Ideol is therefore ready, once the pre-selection of tenderers announced, to work alongside its partners in order to submit the best possible offer.”

This call for tenders had been launched by former French Prime Minister Jean Castex on March 14, a month after French President Emmanuel Macron announced a target of 40GW of offshore wind power by 2050.

BW Ideol has two full-scale offshore floating wind turbines in operation in France and Japan, and a large project pipeline including 1GW under development in Scotland.

A consortium of the technology company with TotalEnergies and Qair earlier this month had taken a final investment decision on the 30MW EolMed floating project, also in the French part of the Mediterranean Sea, which is one of four pilot arrays France had tendered off before moving to commercial scale in floating.
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Published 23 May 2022, 10:00Updated 11 July 2023, 17:02
EuropeFranceBW IdeolEnbridgeTechnology