It's a first.
France launched a commercial call for tenders on Tuesday for the construction and operation of a field of floating wind turbines.
This future offshore park will have an installed capacity of 250 megawatts, or a quarter of the power of a conventional nuclear reactor.
It will be located off the islands of Groix and Belle-Île-en-Mer.
The public debate ended at the end of 2020 and its conclusions were published at the end of March by the National Commission for Public Debate.
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Based on offshore technologies well known to oil companies, floating wind turbines - unlike “posed” wind turbines, ie fixed to the ground by means of foundations - are still in the development phase. They are designed to be placed further from the coast, at more than 50 m deep. They are thus farther from view and above all can better capture the offshore winds, which are more powerful and regular.
"Now, the challenge will once again be to make France's ambitions a reality, in order to strengthen our country's global leadership in floating wind power and to develop a truly virtuous sector rich in socio-economic benefits for the regions »
, Reacted Nicolas Wolff, president of the federation of the sector, France Wind Energy. The Hexagon has start-ups designing floats, such as Idéol. French oil services companies are also looking at this technology to retrain - their federation, Evolen, recently joined the Syndicate of Renewable Energies. The multi-year energy program (PPE) published in April 2020 sets a development target for renewable electricity production at sea (landed and floating) from 5,200 to 6,200 gigawatts in 2028.
