Renewables

France awards world’s first commercial-scale feed-in tariffs for floating wind

france auction floating wind

Photo: WindEurope

Published

May 20, 2024

Country

Comments

comments icon

0

Share

Published:

May 20, 2024

Country:

Comments:

comments icon

0

Share

France has announced the winners of its 250 MW South Brittany floating offshore wind auction, the world’s first conducted at a commercial scale.

The tendered 250 MW site will be the biggest floating offshore wind farm in Europe upon completion and more than double Europe’s current floating offshore wind capacity, WindEurope said.

So far Europe has only built small pilot and demonstrator projects, which makes the French auction a big step towards commercialisation and large-scale deployment of floating wind.

The winning bid amounted to EUR 86 per MWh

The feed-in tariffs were awarded to a consortium of BayWa r.e. and Elicio. Ten consortia have bid, showing huge interest in developing floating offshore wind. The winning bid amounted to EUR 86 per MWh.

All operating demonstrator and pilot facilities have a total capacity of just over 200 MW. Four stand out: Kincardine and Hywind Scotland in the United Kingdom (30 MW each), WindFloat Atlantic in Portugal (25 MW) and Hywind Tampen in Norway (95 MW). All received public financial support, WindEurope noted.

Minister Delegate for Energy Roland Lescure announced the auction results after the inauguration of France’s second fully-commissioned bottom-fixed offshore wind farm in Fécamp (Seine-Maritime).

Floating turbines are key to offshore wind development across basins

According to WindEurope, floating offshore wind is key to unlocking offshore sites with water depths of 60 meters and more.

In such areas, floating turbines are more cost-competitive than the traditional, bottom-fixed machines.

As such, floating offshore wind holds the key to offshore wind development in large parts of the Atlantic, the Celtic Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, the Norwegian Sea and other basins with higher water depths.

Tardieu: Other countries are falling behind their targets

WindEurope pointed out that many more auctions are planned. France is expected to announce the winners of two other 250 MW sites in the Mediterranean in December. Spain, Portugal, Norway, Greece, Italy and the UK are all moving towards their first auctions.

WindEurope Chief Policy Officer Pierre Tardieu said the French announcement is great but that other countries are falling behind their announced floating wind ambitions.

“Europe risks losing its leading position for floating wind. By 2030 Europe can now expect to have at best 3 GW of floating wind in operation. And that requires the relevant auctions to be completed by 2025,” he explained.

Comments (0)

Be the first one to comment on this article.

Enter Your Comment
Please wait... Please fill in the required fields. There seems to be an error, please refresh the page and try again. Your comment has been sent.

Related Articles

Race against time for Greece to avoid a blackout on Easter

Race against time for Greece to avoid a blackout on Easter

18 February 2025 - Greek authorities are rushing to secure the electricity system against a possible blackout during Easter

IEA Renewables cover almost all electricity demand growth 2027

IEA: Renewables to cover almost all electricity demand growth through 2027

17 February 2025 - A sharp increase in global electricity demand is expected in the next three years, IEA said and estimated that renewables would cover 95%

Petrol NGEN start strategic partnership in advanced energy solutions

Petrol, NGEN start strategic partnership in advanced energy solutions

17 February 2025 - Petrol and NGEN have joined forces in digitalization for energy management and adaptation to fluctuations in power production and consumption

EDP Renewables inaugurates two wind power plants in Greece

EDP Renewables inaugurates two wind power plants in Greece

15 February 2025 - EDP Renewables declared its two new wind farms in Central Greece and Thessaly open, adding almost 70 MW to the transmission grid