France Green Lights Saint-Nazaire Offshore Windfarm

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--France's shift into the offshore wind energy market has picked up pace following the granting of permission for the 480-megawatt (MW) Saint-Nazaire project off the west coast of France.

The green light was granted by the Loire-Atlantique authorities, allowing the project to move to the construction phase, four years after the French government first awarded the tender to a consortium made up of EDF Energies Nouvelles (Paris, France), DONG Energy A/S (Fredericia, Denmark), Nass & Wind Offshore (Lorient, France), wpd Offshore (Bremen, Germany) and Alstom SA (EPA:ALO) (Paris, France). At the time they won three of the four offshore tenders up for grabs. For additional information, see April 12, 2012, article - EDF Wins Majority of French Offshore Projects.

The windfarm is located 12 kilometers (km) offshore and will cover an area of 78 square km. It will use 80 Haliade 150 turbines from General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) (Fairfield, Connecticut), rated at 6 MW each. Industrial Info values the project at two billion euro ($2.3 billion). Construction is expected to kick off next year with completion in the summer of 2020. Saint-Nazaire is the third French offshore project to receive the planning go-ahead but construction has not yet started on any of the projects.

Since 2012, there have been two offshore wind tenders in France, calling for the construction of six windfarms with a combined generating capacity of 3 gigawatts (GW) by 2020. Last week, the French government announced plans to release a third offshore tender process for the Dunkirk region off the northern coast of the country. Segolene Royal, minister of the environment, announced that consultations are under way and said that Dunkirk has been "identified as having favourable conditions for offshore wind implantation".

France gets most of its electricity from nuclear power. The country has 58 reactors, the highest number in Europe, all of which are operated by Électricité de France S.A. (EPA:EDF) (Paris, France). They have a total capacity of just over 63 GW and supplied 77% of the country's power in 2014, according to power grid operator Reseau de Transport d'Electricite (RTE). However, the country's President Francois Hollande has vowed to reduce the country's reliance on nuclear power to 50%, which has sparked greater investment and support for renewable energy projects. For additional information, see October 16, 2014, article--France to Cut Nuclear Reliance to 50%.

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