The emergence of floating wind power in France took
another step forward earlier this month when the government announced two
winners to a call for floating wind pilot plants.
Two pre-commercial pilot projects, each of 24 MW, will be
built out under terms of the tender in independent locations.
One project — located in the Leucate zone of the
Mediterranean — will be developed by utilities Engie and EDP Renewables, in
concert with French bank Caisse de Dépôts et Consignations, Eiffage, Principle
Power and GE. Four 150-6MW turbines from GE Haliade are to be installed.
A second project — within the Faraman area off the coast of
Brittany — is to be developed by France-based power company EDF EN together
with SBM Offshore and IFP Energies Nouvelles. Three Siemens 8
MW turbines will be featured there.
Industry players in France have broadly welcomed the
announcement. The projects, alongside two other floating wind pilot projects
announced in July, are expected to provide a key platform to demonstrate
capabilities of floating wind and trial varying floating platform
configurations. All four projects are of comparable capacity.
Jean Mathieu Kolb, the project director for ENGIE, told Renewable Energy World: “This
project intends to quickly put floating wind farms on the map as a competitive
energy source and part of the overall energy mix for France.”
He continued: “The objective is for this pre-commercial
phase to provide key experience to help ensure the success of future commercial
developments, not only for the industrial field but also for the many
associated stakeholders.”
Kolb described the project as “a decisive phase that
anticipates the floating turbine sector’s industrialization in France and
abroad.”
Floating wind technology has been adopted by France as
holding great potential for offshore development in light of the depths of
waters around the nation. Engie has stated: “Floating wind turbines are an
up-and-coming technology that can be installed in deeper, very windy water far
from the shore. France’s Mediterranean coast is particularly well-suited to the
development of this renewable offshore energy source and a perfect test
platform for future international markets”
Engie plans to have the turbines commissioned in 2020.
Matthieu Monnier, Industry and Offshore Wind Advisor at the
national wind association, France Wind
Energy(FEE), told Renewable Energy World: “FEE congratulates the two
new laureates and is happy that the state brings such strong support to the
development of floating offshore wind energy in France. It means that the wind
industry will be able to test and validate economical and technical hypothesis
during the pre-commercial pilot phase; the fact that we have four awarded
projects with four different technologies will show, in the future, which
technologies will reach maturity and, consequently, which ones reach the
commercial and industrial phase.
Reflecting on the fact that France has not yet installed any
offshore turbines, Monnier said: “If the French offshore wind energy sector is
late compared to other markets, the opportunity to lead this new market is
real, and we will do it in a near future.”
Monnier added, “But commercial tenders are necessary for
this, that’s why we are delighted that French Minister of Energy Ségolène Royal
announced the launch of the commercial phase through a zoning process (that
will start by the end of 2016), before the concrete launch of commercial
tenders.”
Contrasting with this enthusiasm, however, were Monnier’s
feelings towards aspects of the recently announced renewable energy targets for
2023 from the French government.
In particular, targets for offshore and floating offshore
wind are not as ambitious as the wind industry should have liked. Monnier said:
“The [floating offshore wind] objective is shared with other marine renewable
energies and does not give a clear visibility [for floating wind target
capacity].”
He added that FEE believes that floating offshore wind is
the most competitive energy and that it should have the higher share of the 2
GW by 2023.
“If France wants to lead this market, we need commercial
tenders with significant volumes,” he said.
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