France opens tender for 250 MW floating offshore wind project

London — France has opened a tender for the world's first commercial floating offshore wind project in an area off the South Brittany coast, energy regulator CRE said.

A public consultation for the 250 MW project, offshore Lorient to the west of the Belle Ile, was concluded in December 2020 and a report published in February.

The tender is the first under an accelerated system, CRE said.

In a first phase to July 1, the regulator is to pre-select candidates based on criteria including operating offshore infrastructure such as floating wind with over 20 MW capacity, according to a document dated April 30.

The second phase, a competitive dialogue between pre-selected candidates and the regulator, starts in September for around six months before the winner is selected.

France awarded four pilot floating wind projects with a combined 96 MW in 2016, including a project at Groix/Belle Ile and three on France's Mediterranean coast at Gruissan, Faraman and Leucate.

Floating projects are to benefit from higher support levels with maximum bids for the first tender capped at Eur120/MWh.

Bids for a current tender for a 1 GW fixed-bottom project offshore Normandy were capped at Eur60/MWh, according to France's PPE energy law.

The PPE targets 6.2 GW of installed offshore wind capacity in France in 2028 including floating, with the first commercial fixed-bottom project set to start next year at Saint-Nazaire.

France plans to tender for two more 250 MW floating projects on the Mediterranean coast in Occitanie and the PACA region.

Oil majors

Norwegian oil and gas company Equinor has been operating the world's biggest project, the 30 MW HyWind Scotland in Aberdeen Bay since 2017.

Construction is underway for the 88 MW HyWind Tampen project to supply electricity to the Snorre and Gullfaks platforms on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) from 2022.

Other oil companies have become active in the sector, with Shell acquiring France's Eolfi, which developed the pilot at Groix/Belle Ile, while Total bought a 20% stake in the Eolmed project at Gruissan.

The UK targets 1 GW of floating offshore wind by 2030 and announced in October support for the sector via a strengthened Contract for Difference auction.

Floating offshore wind technology ambitions have increased over recent years especially for areas where fixed offshore turbines cannot reach, with Japan, South Korea and the US West Coast key focus areas for development.

Equinor sees a global potential of up to 15 GW of floating offshore wind by 2030, while Siemens Gamesa pegs floating's 2030 potential at around 10 GW, it said previously.