France announced the winners of the 250 MW South Brittany floating offshore wind auction, the world’s first commercial-scale floating offshore wind auction. This is a major milestone for floating offshore wind technology. So far Europe has only built small pilot and demonstrator projects. With this announcement, floating wind took a big step towards commercialization and large-scale deployment.
The announcement took place as Minister Delegate Lescure inaugurated France’s second fully-commissioned bottom-fixed offshore wind farm in Fécamp (Seine-Maritime).
“Floating wind is here to stay. The demo projects have worked. Now is the time to scale-up to large projects. The French auction was a milestone in the history of floating wind technology. It puts France up there with the leading countries in floating offshore wind”, said WindEurope Chief Policy Officer Pierre Tardieu.
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The significance of the French auction
Floating offshore wind is key to unlocking offshore sites with water depths of 60 meters and more. In these areas floating offshore wind turbines are more cost-competitive than traditional bottom-fixed turbines. 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 sea basins with higher water depths.
The French auction is a major milestone. The tendered 250 MW site will not only be the biggest floating offshore wind farm in Europe upon completion. It will also more than double Europe’s current floating offshore wind capacity.
The auction was won by a consortium of BayWa re and Elicio. 10 different consortia bid, showing the huge interest in developing floating offshore wind. The winning bid was awarded at 86 euros/MWh.
So far Europe has only installed small demonstrator and pilot projects. Together they have just over 200 MW. Four projects stand out: Kincardine and Hywind Scotland in the UK (30 MW each), WindFloat Atlantic in Portugal (25 MW) and Hywind Tampen in Norway (95 MW). All of these projects received public financial support.
Source: WindEurope
