France’s $1.1 Billion Floating Wind Project Eyes Giant Turbines
- Elicio, BayWa plan on turbines with over 20 megawatts capacity
- Wind farm is due to be installed off southern Brittany in 2031
Wind turbines sit in the North Sea at the London Array offshore wind farm.
Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
Belgium’s Elicio and Germany’s BayWa r.e. AG plan to build France’s first commercial-scale floating wind farm at a cost of as much as €1 billion ($1.1 billion) by 2031, and they’re counting on struggling Western turbine makers to build the giant windmills they need.
The consortium, which has been awarded the 250-megawatt project by the French government, will install a maximum of 13 turbines off the southern coast of Brittany, Aldrik de Fombelle, head of the Pennavel project, told reporters Thursday. The group will pick a turbine supplier around 2029, and “anticipates” that it will use windmills with a capacity of over 20 megawatts, he said.