MHI Vestas has been selected to supply turbines to the Groix & Belle-Ile pilot floating offshore wind farm off Brittany in France.
Three V164-9.5MW machines will replace the initially planned 6MW GE turbines.
The project is being developed by Eolfi, CGN Europe Energy and la Banque des Territoires, with Naval Energies providing the floating platforms.
MHI Vestas chief Philippe Kavafyan said the company was looking forward to delivering its technology to France.
“Installing the 9.5MW machine for the Groix and Belle-Ile project will build on our experience from WindFloat Atlantic in Portugal and Kincardine in Scotland,” he said.
“The oceanic conditions we see in the West of France are representative of 80% of global floating potential.”
CGN Europe Energy chief executive Yuanzheng Huang called the project a major milestone for the company.
“We at CGN Group feel honoured to be part of a project that not only pushes the frontiers of renewables technology but is also testing the French government’s capacity to promote renewable energy,” he said.
The developers have completed additional environmental and engineering studies over the past few weeks and said the turbine swap will not increase the project’s environmental footprint.
Commissioning of the project, in 70-metres of water, is now planned for 2022, one year later than initially scheduled.
MHI Vestas Offshore Wind selection enables the project partners to sign the ADEME – project operator acting for the program ‘investissement d’avenir’ on behalf of the French government – financing agreements.
The Groix & Belle-Ile Floating Offshore Wind Farm company and ADEME signed financing agreements that lay out the conditions for the state support allocated to the project.
Huang said: “Entering into this financing agreement with ADEME represents a major milestone for this project and rewards three years of hard work with our partners.
“Our collaboration with Naval Energies and MHI Vestas also demonstrates that synergy is possible between a Chinese company and European industrial groups.”
Naval Energies chief executive Laurent Schneider-Maunoury said: “We are especially proud to be contributing to this ground-breaking project via our semi-submersible floating platform, a central component of the technology used.
“For this pilot farm, we were able to very rapidly upgrade our design to incorporate the MHI Vestas turbines: the most powerful turbines on the floating wind market.
“This is a flagship industrial project on both a national and international scale, and we’re delighted to be a part of it, working alongside all the project’s partners.”
Groix & Belle-Ile was chosen as the winner of ADEME’s EOLFLO call for projects for floating offshore wind farm development on 22 July 2016.
Connection work has been subcontracted to RTE and involves installing submarine and underground lines to connect to the French grid.