The French Government has vowed to halve the time taken to develop offshore wind farms to help bolster the industry and meet renewable energy targets.
Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire and Roland Lescure, Minister Delegate for Energy and Industry, said the length of time taken to get an offshore wind operational in the country was damaging the development of the sector.
“You have to take a giant step. Today is twelve years for a wind farm between making the decision and then applying the decision,” said Le Maire.
“Technologies become obsolete and very often lose their profitability. We want to halve the deadline for it to go from 12 years to six years.”
Lescure said the Government had not done enough to make the development process as efficient or as fast as needed.
He said: “At each stage, there are two, three, four months too long, and when you add two, three or four months to each procedure, you end up with years of instruction even before we start designing and building.
“And so, each step will be dramatically simplified and shortened.”
In addition, Le Maire announced measures to promote the French offshore wind turbine industry to protect it from global competition. This includes adding new criteria to tenders around providing greener supply chains.
“A turbine wind blade which is manufactured in Saint-Nazaire, with decarbonised energy under very satisfactory environmental conditions and which has not made thousands of kilometres before coming here, has a carbon balance which is better than a blade which has been brought from 6 000 to 8 000 kilometres.”
“I believe that in a call for tenders, we must take account of this climate reality.”
Le Maire and Lescure also reiterated French offshore wind goals of producing 18GW by 2035 and 45GW by 2050.
The Government said it would announce this September a new round of areas suitable for offshore wind over the next decade and tender specifications for new floating wind farms in the Mediterranean by the end of this year.
It was also revealed that a winner for the 250MW tender in South Brittany has been chosen but that financial guarantees discussions were still ongoing.
Jules Nyssen, President of French Renewable Energy trade association SER, said: “The Government has confirmed its desire to place France at the forefront of floating wind power in Europe and the world.
“We also welcome the industrial ambition of the Ministers establishing a real European preference in calls for tender. This places this industry at the same strategic level as the automobile industry. Today is a great day for renewable energy.”