EDF Wins Majority of French Offshore Projects

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources Europe (Galway, Ireland)--The consortium led by EDF Energies Nouvelles (EDF EN) emerged the clear winner of the French offshore tender, taking home three of the four projects awarded by France's Minister of Industry, Eric Besson. The consortium of strategic partners, including Dong Energy A/S (Fredericia, Denmark), Nass & Wind Offshore (Lorient, France), wpd Offshore (Bremen, Germany) and Alstom S.A. (ENX:ALO) (Paris, France) were awarded the Fecamp, Courseulles-sur-Mer and Saint-Nazaire projects.

The fourth project, Saint-Brieuc, was awarded to the Iberdrola-Eole-RES consortium, which consists of Iberdrola S.A. (PINK:IBDRY) (Bilbao, Spain), Eole-RES (Avignon, France), Areva S.A. (ENX:CEI) (Paris, France), Technip S.A. (PINK:TKPPY) (Paris) and Neoen Marine (Paris).

Energy regulator CRE had advised in favour of awarding all four projects to EDF EN, but the government decided to go with the Iberdrola-led consortium for Saint-Brieuc, even though EDF EN offered a lower price. The government wanted "to give a chance" to a second group, spread the risk and maximize the industrial benefits, Besson said.

Iberdrola will use Areva's 5-megawatt (MW) turbines for its 500-MW project at Saint-Brieuc. Areva will build two factories at Le Havre to produce turbines and blades. EDF EN has teamed up with Alstom for its projects, totalling 1,428 MW. Alstom will supply 238 of its new Haliade 150 6-MW turbines from four new factories to be built at Saint-Nazaire and Cherbourg.

The winners now have 18 months to complete detailed feasibility studies analyzing the technical and environmental aspects of the projects before entering the permitting process. Even if everything goes according to plan, it is unlikely that anything will be commissioned before 2017.

In related news, the French government has postponed the second round of its offshore tender until the second half of 2012, rather than in April as originally planned. The zones to be tendered are still being decided; however, it is likely that it will include Noirmoutier and Le Treport. In the first tender, the government followed CRE's advice to abandon Le Treport, where GDF Suez (PINK:GDFZY) (Paris, France) was the only bidder. The purchase price was the highest among all the projects, the Energy Ministry said.

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