Eoliennes en Mer Manche Normandie, the joint venture between France’s EDF Renewables and Canada’s Maple Power, has won a tender to develop the 1 GW Centre Manche 1 offshore wind project located 32 km off the coast of Normandy, in north-western France. The wind park’s construction is expected to start by 2026 or 2027 and commissioning is scheduled for 2031. It will be able supply electricity to more than 800,000 French households. According to the ministry, the strike price offered by EDF Renewables and Maple Power for the project was less than €45/MWh.
The project, which was awarded to the joint venture by the French Ministry of Ecological Transition, brings the cumulative power of offshore wind projects currently under development in France to 4 GW.
In addition, the Ministry of Ecological Transition has released selection of candidates who will participate in the competitive dialogue for two offshore wind parks located off the Ile d'Oléron (AO7) and Normandy (AO8). The AO7 (1 GW) and AO8 (1.5 GW) candidates notably include Ocean Winds, RWE, Iberdrola, Eni Plenitude, EDF Renewables-Maple Power, Vattenfall and TotalEnergies-Jera. The allocation of these two projects will take place at the beginning of 2024, for commissioning scheduled for 2032.
France targets 40 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2050. The country intends to award 2 GW of projects each year from 2024. The 480 MW Saint-Nazaire offshore wind park, located off the coast of the Guérande peninsula in Loire-Atlantique, western France, which is the country’s first commercial-scale offshore wind project, was commissioned in September 2022.
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