While candidate President Emmanuel Macron repeats that he wants to set up 50 wind farms at sea by 2050, a first mat came out of the sea on Tuesday.
France's first offshore wind turbine has indeed been installed in the offshore park of Saint-Nazaire (Loire-Atlantique) with a view to commissioning in early May.
These are the very first offshore wind turbines in France, installed since mid-April off the coast of Saint-Nazaire.
“The Saint-Nazaire offshore wind farm produced the first megawatt hours from French offshore wind power,” the consortium owning the park (by EDF Renewables, Enbridge and CPP) and RTE announced on Friday.
This represents "an important step for the energy transition", judged the partners.
Soon Fécamp, Saint-Brieuc and Courseulles-sur-Mer
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.
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.
