EDF, Ocean Winds-led consortiums win French floating wind round

French Ministry of Industry and Energy has selected partnerships between EDF Renewables and Maple Power as well as Ocean Winds and Banque des Territoires to build and operate a 250 MW floating offshore wind farm each in the Mediterranean.

The two projects were selected following the sixth offshore wind tender by the French government. The announcement comes after France announced a list of 12 bidders for 2.5GW offshore wind tender. Only two sites were made available in the Mediterranean, both for floating wind.

Both floating wind farms will be located 25 km off the Mediterranean coast and have a capacity of approximately 250 MW, it is expected to supply electricity equivalent to the annual consumption of up to 500,000 people and produce approximately 1 TWh of clean electricity per year.

EDF and Maple Power were awarded the site in the Golfe de Fos area off Fos-sur-Mer while the Ocean Winds and Banque des Territoires partnership won the site in the Narbonaise area between Agde and Port-la-Nouvelle. Ocean Winds is a joint venture between EDP Renewables and Engie.

The winners also signed off on recycling wind turbines, including blades and magnets, and to hire small and medium enterprises for 10% of the work involving studies, manufacturing of components, and operation activities.

The Occitanie Floating Wind Turbines project or EFLO for short is expected to generate approximately 5m hours of work during its development and construction phases, and will then create permanent maintenance jobs during its operational phase.

Members of both partnerships have signed the “Commitment Charter to Contribute to the Regional Structuring of a French Industrial Sector” with six French regional clusters.