The French government has just announced that it has selected a winner for the construction of a floating wind farm in the Mediterranean, off the coast of Aude. Ocean Winds will install 12 giant machines for an annual production of 250 MW, or the electricity needed for 450,000 inhabitants.
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Following the investigation carried out by the energy regulation commission (CRE), the government appointed an operator for the project located in the so-called Narbonnaise area, more than 25 km from the coast, between Agde in the Hérault and Port-la-Nouvelle in Aude.
This is the group composed of Ocean Winds (50-50 joint venture of Engie and EDPR, based in Madrid) and Eolien en Mer Participation, created in 2019.
Ocean Winds, which is in partnership with the Caisse des Dépôts and the Banque des Territories, is counting on a final investment decision around 2029 or 2030, taking into account potential appeals, and construction “in the early 2030s”, specified the general director of Ocean Winds France, Marc Hirt, during a press briefing.
He mentioned an investment of around 800 million euros for this park of 12 21.5MW turbines, with a height of approximately 163 meters for the nacelle, with 300 meters in maximum blade height.
The feed-in tariff submitted by Ocean Winds amounts to 92.7 euros per MWh.
After a public debate organized by the National Commission for Public Debate (CNDP), the competitive bidding procedure was launched in March 2022 for the construction and operation of this floating offshore wind farm, for which 13 candidates had been preselected .
“The winner is committed to recycling wind turbines (blades and magnets included) and to entrusting 10% of the study services, manufacturing of components, work and activities relating to operation to SMEs”indicated the Ministry of Industry in a press release.
The EFLO project, Éoliennes Flottantes d'Occitanie, is expected to generate around 5 million hours of work during its development and construction phases, and then create permanent maintenance jobs during its operational phase.
The Minister responsible for Industry and Energy, Marc Ferracci, underlined “the importance of these wind projects, which combine a green industrial sector and the response to the challenges of the energy transition”.
France is targeting 18 GW of offshore wind power in service by 2035 and 45 GW by 2050.
