Electricity from wind turbines at sea, off Saint-Nazaire, was produced for the first time in France this week, the operator and network manager announced on Friday.
“The Saint-Nazaire offshore wind farm produced the first megawatt hours from French offshore wind,” announced the consortium owning the park (owned by EDF Renewables, Enbridge and CPP) and RTE.
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Other offshore wind farms under construction
This represents "an important step for the energy transition", judged the partners.
The Saint-Nazaire offshore park, the very first in France to come into service, will eventually have 80 wind turbines, which will be gradually installed by the end of the year.
Since the first installation in April, it now has 27 wind turbines installed.
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Other offshore wind farms are under construction in France.
That of Fécamp (Seine-Maritime) must be put into operation in 2023, before those of Saint-Brieuc (Côtes-d'Armor) and Courseulles-sur-Mer (Calvados).
France has fallen behind in this area, but President Emmanuel Macron wants to install 50 offshore wind farms by 2050, with a total power of 40 GW.
On the other hand, he wants to curb the planned development of onshore wind power.