Ocean Winds and EDF winners as French award more floating wind
Spatial planning rethink, one stop shop and infrastructure investments are paying dividends as French push for floating leadership
France has named Ocean Winds and EDF Renewables among the winners of a competitive tender providing development rights and offtake terms for two 250MW floating wind farms in the Mediterranean Sea.
Ocean Winds, which is a joint venture between energy giants Engie and EDP Renewables, was named as the winner of the Narbonnaise wind farm area for a tariff of €92.70/MWh ($96.68/MWh), according to a statement by France’s Directorate General for Energy and Climate (DGEC).
Ocean Winds bid for the area in partnership with French renewables developer Eolien en Mer Participation. The Narbonnaise area is located more than 25 kilometres from the coast, between Agde (Hérault) and Port-la-Nouvelle (Aude).
The second project, located in the Golfe de Fos area west of Marseille, was awarded for a tariff of €85.90/MWh. It went to Eoliennes Mediterranee Grand Large, a joint venture between French utility EDF Renewables and Canada’s Maple Power.
The Golfe de Fos area is also located more than 25 km from the coast, off Fos-sur-Mer.
The winning bids included a number of commitments on sustainability and local job creation and both winning consortiums also signed up to a “Charter of commitment to contribute to the regional structuring of a French industrial sector”.
The DGEC statement described the two awards as "a new step towards achieving the targeted 18GW of offshore wind in service by 2035 and 45GW by 2050".
Marc Ferracci, France's Acting Minister of Industry and Energy, described the two floating wind projects as part of a national response to the climate crisis wind project, which "combines a green industrial sector with the response to the challenges of the energy transition”.
One of these, offered in France's AO5 tender, captured the attention of the offshore wind industry earlier this year when a joint venture between Elicio and BayWa r.e. won the right to build up to 270MW of floating capacity with their Pennavel consortium.
Hailed as the world’s first commercial-scale floating offshore wind project to secure a tariff through a competitive tender, Pennavel's CfD strike price was bid at €86.45/MWh ($89.85/MWh).
The one-stop French system that determines seabed rights, long-term tariffs and a secure grid connection in one go were cited by BayWa r.e. among the factors that helped persuade the developer to bid what was seen as an aggressively low price.
The new tender attracted an even lower tariff, reinforcing French claims to have achieved an effective reset following wide-ranging consultations and publication of a new plan for the sector.
In March 2022, an energy roadmap deal was signed between government and industry linking a target of awarding nearly 2GW per year of capacity with €40bn of investment commitments over 15 years and targeting 50% of French content on projects.
The French government announced a new Marine Spatial Plan for offshore wind development in October with raised targets for the 2035 and 2050 horizons.
France has also been investing in port infrastructure for offshore wind, including Port of Brest, Port-la-Nouvelle and Port of Saint Nazaire.
(Copyright)