The French government has been urged to more than triple the amount of money it plans to spend on upgrading floating offshore wind infrastructure at the nation’s ports to over €1bn.
The call for an increase in the current €190m funding came from Sandrine Gourlet, chair of the management board at the Port of La Rochelle, at the first day of the Seanergy conference in Paris.
“To be able to respond to what France wants to build in floating the ports will need €1.2bn,” she said.
“We need some more help. It is good [the €190m] funding but is not enough. If not, we risk losing the game.”
Gourlet said La Rochelle was working together with other ports such as Bordeaux and Bayonne to have a “complete solution” to be ready for the ramp-up in floating wind.
Jean-Rémy Villageois, chair of the management board at Nantes-Saint-Nazaire Port, made his own call to government during the debate on how to craft the ideal offshore renewables port.
“We need more visibility from the government to keep people working in the quays and the factories in our ports,” he said.
“At the moment it is a case of should I keep the workers on if the work is not there or should I let them go elsewhere. If I do, how do I get them back when I really need them on a project. We need the investment architecture. It can’t be all stop and go.”
Indeed, he said having a 25-year road map from the government would be ideal in “providing enough cashflow” for it and others to make the necessary investments.
He said in France that means a mixture of public and private investment. That is less common in the UK as ports are privately owned.
However, John MacAskill, managing director of renewables at ABL Group, said when they do get involved it can make a huge difference to the success of a port.
That was reference to the Scottish National Investment Bank which has invested millions of pounds into the sector including at the Haventus-owned Ardersier Port, east of Inverness.
“It gives a level of comfort to investors and has helped Scottish ports to break ground,” he said.